China lifts restrictions on import of non-basmati rice from India

Good news for the Indian rice exporters as China has lifted restrictions on the import of non-basmati rice from India. According to an official release from the Commerce Ministry, “The first consignment of non-basmati rice of 100 tonnes will be dispatched to the neighboring country from Nagpur on 28 September. China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) will receive the consignment.  It must be noted that COFCO is one of China's state-owned food processing holding companies.

India since a long time has been urging China to lift the restrictions and seeing these concerted efforts the Chinese quality agency recently examined and registered 19 rice mills and processing units for export.

The protocol between the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare of the Republic of India and General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China was inked in June at Qingdao during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country. This made changes in the earlier protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include the export of non-basmati varieties of rice from India.

Beijing allowed imports of Basmati rice from India a few years back but as there is not much demand for it in the country, it had put restrictions.