Trade pattern (Rice)

Import pattern

The global import of rice in 2004 was 372.41 lakh tonnes valued at Rs. 46394.60 crores.  Rice was imported by 175 countries of which West Asian and African countries were the major importers. Japan and Brazil also figured in top 10 importing countries. In West Asia and Middle East, Basmati rice is preferred and India is the major supplier of this category. The following table shows that Nigeria was the largest importer of rice in the world with 5.17% of the quantity followed by China (4.96%), Saudi Arabia (4.45%) and Philippines (4.12%).  There were 165 other countries importing rice which together accounted for 64.64% of the rice imports.  In value terms, Japan was the top importer with 7.73% share followed by Saudi Arabia (5.88%) and China (5.60%).  This reflects the differences in the quantity composition of rice imports between the importing countries. 

Importing countries of rice during the year 2004

The following pie diagram shows the pattern of the volume of rice imports in the year 2004. The top 10 importing countries together accounted for 35% of the world imports and the remaining 165 countries accounted for approximately two-third (65%) of the world imports.

Import pattern of rice in global level

India's import

India’s import of rice has been negligible during the last few years. The following table shows decline in import both in quantity and value terms. While the quantity of rice imported decreased from 871.19 tonnes in 2002-03 to 260.06 tonnes in 2005-06, the value of the import declined from 1.09 crores to 0.34 crores during the same period.

India’s import of rice during the period 2002-03 – 2005-06