Traders worried over APEDA's advisory on Basmati rice export declaration
25-Sep-2024 04:52 PM
New Delhi. The advisory issued by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA),
an agency under the Union Ministry of Commerce and authorized to operate export of food and agricultural commodities, regarding declaration for export of Basmati rice has increased the concern of exporters.
But APEDA claims that this will not affect the export of Basmati rice or the exporters. This advisory has been issued by Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF), a cell of APEDA, due to which exporters are confused whether it has the right to regulate the Basmati rice industry and whether this advisory is legally valid.
On this, APEDA officials say that this advisory is neither mandatory nor binding. It is noteworthy that this advisory was issued by BEDF on 12 September 2024, in which it was said that if a packet or bag is packed with a particular variety or category of Basmati rice notified under the Seed Act of 1966, then the same name should be mentioned on its label.
But the reason for the concern of traders-exporters is something else. The advisory states that it is not mandatory to write the name of the category of Basmati rice on the label but this product must be in accordance with the needs of the buyers / importing countries.
In short, if the importer of Iran contracts the import of Pusa 1121 Basmati rice, then other categories of Basmati rice should not be exported to it.
The task of identifying specific varieties of paddy-rice should start from the level of Mandi (Agri terminal or market or farms).
This is a bit complicated work. Exporters say that no specific process has been described in the advisory to identify the correct variety and neither any details have been given about the methods of its inspection-testing.
The director of BEDF says that this advisory is only to suggest the exporters not to give any misleading or wrong information.
They should mention only the name of the variety of rice they are exporting. This will increase the credibility of Indian Basmati rice in the global market and will help the exporters to avoid disputes.