The growing tension between israel and iran has caused turmoil in the Middle east and this has caused sleepless nights for the exporters of Basmati rice from Punjab. Actually, there are many countries in the Middle east, including iran, which import Basmati rice from india on a large scale. At present, many ships carrying Basmati rice are mid-way and if the war drags on between the two countries, then the ships may have to return from mid-way. This will result in a loss of crores of rupees. ashok Sethi of punjab Basmati Exporters Association, while talking to the indian Express, said, "It is not in our power to withstand this war. Many of our ships with many consignments of Basmati rice are already mid-way. In case of escalation of tensions, they will not be able to reach their destination, which will cause us losses worth lakhs.''
Basmati rice goes from india to iran to Saudi
The Middle east is a big buyer of Basmati rice from india and punjab produces 40% of the country's total Basmati production. israel carried out missile attacks on several nuclear and military centers of iran on Friday. iran also retaliated by attacking israel with drones. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah ali Khamenei also warned israel of 'severe punishment' for attacking the country.
There is also a problem in getting insurance
Sethi also said that the situation is such that there are problems in getting insurance of the goods to be exported because there is an atmosphere of tension, so insurance companies are also refusing to give coverage. The matter is not limited to Basmati rice only. In case of escalation of war, there will be problems in oil imports as well, which will cause a big loss to India.
Export of Basmati rice is decreasing
According to the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India's foreign exchange earnings from the export of Basmati rice in 2022 was Rs 48,000 crore, out of which Punjab's contribution was at least 40 percent. On the other hand, the export of Basmati rice from india to iran has already been affected due to the US sanctions on iran as iran is not able to pay india properly. Due to US sanctions, india has stopped importing oil from Iran. Due to this, iran does not have reserves to pay india in rupees. On the other hand, due to the fall in the Iranian currency Rial, imports have also become expensive, so it has been affected. According to commerce ministry data, Iran's share in India's total basmati rice exports ($3.54 billion) was around 23 per cent ($0.81 billion) in FY22, which has declined to 12 per cent ($0.75 billion) by FY25..jpg)
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