Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Jul 06, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Jul 06, 2002 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Foodgrains Basmati base prices hiked K. Sreedevi
CHENNAI, July 5 THE Government has raised the price advisory for basmati rice exports by $25-30 a tonne. According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products' Export Development Authority (Apeda), the price for brown basmati has been raised to $545 a tonne f.o.b. from $515, while for pusa basmati it has been increased from $465 a tonne f.o.b. to $490. The new rates have been made effective from July 1. Price advisory means the minimum price at which the commodity can be exported from the country. This mechanism helps in ensuring quality of the product exported. Apeda is the nodal agency for rice exports. The price advisory has provisions to allow an upper or lower margin of five per cent. The base price for basmati exports was specified in February this year with an eye on exports to the European Union. As per the EU norms, the commodity may be sent without any duty if the prices are maintained above a particular level. With stiff competition from Pakistan, which is also looking at duty-free basmati exports to EU, a base price for Indian basmati rice can help it corner a better share of the market. Indian basmati is said to be of better quality than the Pakistani variety. In order to ensure proper functioning of the price advisory, a 10-member monitoring committee was constituted then. The committee, which is scheduled to meet every month to review the mechanism, will now have an additional member with the induction of Mr Rakesh Agarwal, Managing Director of Sun Star Overseas Ltd. Apeda said in its notification that any export contract being registered at prices below the advisory would invite compulsory inspection by Export Inspection Council of India, including DNA fingerprinting. On Friday, Indian basmati was quoted at $565-585 a tonne f.o.b., while the Pakistani variety was traded at $ 500-520 a tonne f.o.b. During January-March this year, the total exports of basmati rice from India were 230,476 tonnes, compared to 227,887 in 2001.
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