India's rice exports to African destinations have been reportedly impacted by increased supplies from Thailand and price competition with other exporting nations such as Vietnam and Pakistan.

On the other hand, India's rice exports to Nigeria, Africa's largest importer of rice, have been affected because it is facing foreign exchange problems due to oil price decline and depreciation of its local currency against dollar. Earlier, in August 2014, India’s rice exports to African countries were impacted due to the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The Commerce Ministry of India has decided to formulate a new and specific strategy to boost rice exports, including basmati and non-basmati , to Africa, according to local sources. As part of the new strategy, the Ministry is planning to send a delegation to some African countries and hold meetings with potential rice importers. "There is a higher demand anticipated from African countries for rice and India can tap that potential," a Commerce Ministry official was quoted as saying.

The Ministry is understood to have taken this decision as India's rice exports in February 2015 declined by about 12.36% to around $649 million compared to around $740 million in February last year.

While Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE are India's major export destinations for basmati rice, Nigeria, Benin, Bangladesh, Senegal, South Africa and Liberia are major export destinations for non-basmati rice.

India exported around 2.86 million tons of rice (including 75,686 tons of basmati and 2.79 million tons of non-basmati) to African destinations in April 2014 - January 2015 period of FY 2014-15, compared to around 3.93 million tons (including 69,136 tons of basmati and 3.86 million tons of non-basmati) in FY 2013-14, according to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

India exported around 9.57 million tons of rice (including 2.92 million tons of basmati and 6.65 million tons of non-basmati) in the first ten months of FY 2014-15 (April - March), up about 7% from around 8.96 million tons (including 3.09 million tons of basmati and 5.87 million tons of non-basmati) exported during the same period in FY 2013-14, according to APEDA data.

Source:oryza.com