New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS) Rice exporters Wednesday urged the government not to interfere in the export of basmati rice and treat the rice variety as a “niche product”.
“We urge the government to treat basmati rice as a niche product. Any interruption in basmati rice exports will only give bad image to our country,” V.K. Arora, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA), told reporters here.

Earlier, there were reports that the government was planning to hike the minimum export price (MEP) for basmati rice to tighten exports in the wake of poor rice production in the kharif season.

According to the government’s first advanced estimates for foodgrain production, India’s rice yield is expected to be around 69.45 million tonnes this kharif season, or about 15 million tonnes less than in the previous season.

The current MEP is $900 (Rs.45,000) per tonne, while the export price for basmati in China is between $600 and $700 a tonne.

India has already exported 1.6 million tonnes of basmati rice in the first half of 2009.

If the government increases MEP or imposes new taxes on exports, that would adversely hit the exports, the association said.

The export price of basmati had gone up by about 50 percent in 2008-09 due to the lower than expected supply.