Farmers worried due to sharp fall in Basmati paddy prices
09-Oct-2024 02:28 PM
Karnal. The concern and trouble of the producers is increasing due to a sharp fall in the wholesale market price of Basmati paddy during the current Kharif marketing season as compared to the previous season.
Farmers fear that when there is a heavy arrival of new paddy, the prices may fall further. Since the minimum support price (MSP) is not fixed for Basmati paddy and neither do government agencies purchase it,
the fluctuation in prices mainly depends on the demand of rice millers, traders and exporters.
According to a producer organization, in the Kharif marketing season of 2023-24, the price of Basmati paddy was running between Rs 3500 to Rs 5000 per quintal depending on the quality and category, which has fallen to between Rs 2200 to Rs 2600 per quintal in the current marketing season.
The harvesting and preparation of new paddy has started and its arrival is going to pick up soon. If the prices do not improve, farmers may suffer huge losses.
In the markets of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, farmers are struggling hard to get a profitable price for their Basmati rice.
Experts say that due to certain reasons, rice millers and exporters are reluctant to buy Basmati rice at high prices.
The first thing is that Pakistani exporters are exporting their Basmati rice at cheap prices, due to which Indian exporters are also forced to keep the offer price of rice low.
Apart from this, due to the Iran-Israel dispute, the rice export scenario in West Asia has become uncertain. Iran itself is the leading importer of Indian Basmati rice.
However, at present there is a ban on the import of rice there. This ban is likely to end by the end of October. The Government of India has withdrawn the minimum export price (MAP) of $ 950 per tonne applicable for Basmati rice.
Compared to last year, there has been an increase in the area under Basmati rice cultivation during the current year and the weather has also been favourable, due to which the production of Basmati rice is expected to be better.