Better marketing strategy raises India’s basmati exports .

After occupying Iran, Pakistan’s major rice market, India, equipped with a better marketing strategy, was in the process of capturing the African market, said market sources on Tuesday.

An Indian daily reported that basmati was selling at $1,100 to $1,400 per tonne, about 20 percent higher than last year’s prices. “Prices of Pakistani basmati rice are under $1,000 per tonne,” said one analyst. Africa imports about 10,000 tonnes to 12,000 tonnes of basmati, compared to millions of tonnes imported by Middle East countries. However, Africa’s basmati rice imports have grown substantially in recent years, local sources said. Indian rice exporters are also working on exporting rice to China and Iraq. China has recently lifted a six-year ban on rice imports from India. Official figures of the two countries reveal that due to better marketing, India’s basmati exports surged by 45 percent while Pakistan’s exports declined by 15 percent during FY12.

According to official figures, Pakistan’s exports were $819.6 million in FY12, down by 14.87 percent to the previous year’s exports of $962.7 million. India’s basmati shipments in FY12 surged 45 percent to touch a record 3.21 million tonnes against 2.18 million tonnes in the previous year. In value terms, the exports for FY12 were up by 46 percent.

President Basmati Growers Association (BGA) Hamid Malhi said that a better market strategy increased India’s exports while we had lost our exports. “India is ahead of us by 60 percent,” he said. Pakistan’s rice exports average more than two billion dollars for the last few years while half of them are earned by basmati rice. This year, they went down by 15 percent.

“We have sold rice below $1,000 per tonne in the international market while India fetched up to $1,500 per tonne,” he said. Pakistani rice is even better than Indian basmati and should have earned better prices, he said. “We can even increase the export of basmati but exporters failed to achieve the target of last year’s exports,” said Malhi. He further said “the government is not involved in the rice trade so the exporters have to improve their strategy.”

Vice chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Safder Mehkri said that depreciation of the Indian rupee by 30 percent last year was a big reason for the increase in the exports of the Indian basmati. Mehkri denied that India sold basmati at $1,500 per tonne. Instead, he said “it sold at $800, which is $200 below our export price of $1,000 per tonne.”

According to Indian daily, The Hindu, basmati exporters’ profits surged for the June quarter over the corresponding period last year on higher shipments and prices. Aided by a weaker rupee, almost all big players saw a significant growth in their top line mainly due to robust demand from traditional markets in West Asia. The profits of KRBL Ltd, the country’s largest basmati exporter, more than doubled to Rs566 million for the June quarter on higher overseas demand. Another large exporter, LT Foods Ltd, also saw profits double to Rs77.2 million.

Source : blackseagrain.net