Expect traders to incorporate rice into a free trade agreement under RCEP

Mumbai, Ta. October 24, 2019, Thursday

While the country's dairy, coffee, tea and pepper sectors are demanding exclusion from the Free Trade Agreement under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), rice traders are expecting rice to be included in the list of agreements. He believes that exports will increase rice exports.

Rice is one of the few commodities in which India has a competitive advantage in the ongoing discussions of RCEP.

Discussions for the proposed RCEP are underway between ten members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and countries such as New Zealand, Japan, Australia, China and India, which currently have free trade agreements.

India is the second largest rice producing country after China, but India is its largest exporter. According to rice trade sources, if rice is included in the RCEP, one million tonnes of rice market will be opened in the ASEAN region every year, where Indian rice exporters will have the opportunity to compete with major manufacturers such as Thailand and Vietnam, said a rice exporter.

Although India is a major exporter of rice, including Basmati, its share in the Asian region is fairly common. India's rice exporters in countries like Malaysia, China and Indonesia do not provide a suitable opportunity for competition, he added. Asian countries do not receive this opportunity for various reasons, including tariffs. India's rice is not competitive due to the high duty structure.