High Tariffs May Hit Indian Basmati Exports to US

13-Aug-2025 11:42 AM

New Delhi. During the first four months of the current financial year, i.e. April-July 2025, exports of Basmati rice from India to the US declined to 78 thousand tonnes, which was 12 thousand tonnes or about 13 percent less than the shipment of 90 thousand tonnes in the same period last year.

In August 2024, 22,730 tonnes of Basmati rice was sent there, but shipments are likely to decrease significantly in August 2025. A tariff of 25 percent (customs duty) has been imposed on Indian products in the US from August 7, while the Trump administration has announced to double it to 50 percent from August 27.

Indian companies exporting Basmati rice to the US say that if a tariff of 50 percent is imposed, it will be difficult to maintain the pace of exports. This will directly benefit Pakistan, whose products have been charged only 19 percent customs duty in the US.

But China can prove to be an important alternative market for Indian Basmati rice as the two countries are getting closer. 3293 tonnes of Basmati rice was exported from India to China in 2023-24, which increased to 5834 tonnes in 2024-25.

There is news that China has allowed its companies to sell 3 lakh tonnes of urea to India, while air service between the two countries is also expected to start soon.

Actually, Indian Basmati rice is exported to the US at a very high price, which gives good income to the exporters. Last year, the average unit export offer price of Indian Basmati rice was $ 881 per tonne for Iran and $ 1025 per tonne for Saudi Arabia, while for the US it was recorded as the highest at $ 1230 per tonne.

For China too, this average price was $ 1095 per tonne, which exporters consider quite good. A total of 60.70 lakh tonnes of Basmati rice was exported from India during the entire period of FY 2024-25, out of which 2,74,213 tonnes or about 4.5 percent was shipped to the USA.