Embassy of India
Beijing
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Press Release
India Pitches for exports of Indian Rice to China

1. India, home for hundreds of rice Varieties, made a strong pitch for its exports into Chinese Market during the seminar on promotion of Indian rice in China organised by Embassy of India in Beijing on 29th October 2018.

2. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Prashant Lokhande, Economic and Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of India, outlines the nature of the bilateral trade and prospects of exports of Indian rice. He mentioned that with world class quality and cost competitiveness, India has emerged as biggest exporter of rice in the world. While thanking Chinese authorities for opening up non-basmati rice imports from India, he hoped to have significant quantities of rice shipped to China at the earliest to cater to $1.5 bn to $ 2.0 bn rice import market of China.

3. China chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs and Native Products (CFNA} partnered with Indian Embassy in this event. Mr Bian Zhenhu, the president of CFNA gave a key note address during this event and expressed satisfaction on growth of bilateral trade. Mr A K Gupta of APEDA explained in detailed about India's rice sector. He emphasised that though India exports more than 12 million MT of rice every year, none comes to China. He appealed Chinese importers to try rich varieties of Indian rice which can suit all tastes and requirements including as ingredient in the processed food.

4. Around 44 Chinese importers including COFCO attended the seminar and business to business meeting.

5. The protocol on exports of non-Basmati Rice from India to China was signed by Mr Gautam Bambawale India's Ambassador and Mr Ni Yuefeng, China's Minister in the presence of the Prime Minister of India and the President of China in Qingdao on 9th June 2018. Subsequently Chinese authorities visited India to inspect the rice mills and last week approved 24 Indian rice mills for exports of rice to China out of which six were present for today's event.

 29 October, 2018