For first time in decades, China buys Indian rice

Mumbai, Dec 03: For the first time in decades, China has started importing rice from India due to tightening supplies and offer from India of sharply discounted prices, a Reuters report said.

While Beijing is the largest importer of rice in the world, India is the biggest exporter of rice. "For the first time China has made rice purchases. They may increase buying next year after seeing the quality of Indian crop," said B V Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association.

The move comes at a time when tensions between the two countries are high owing to the dispute along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. The importing of rice from India by China has taken place after nearly three decades. China imports million tonnes of rice annually, but had avoided purchase from India citing quality issues.

China's traditional suppliers Vietnam, Myanmar and Pakistan were quoting at least USD 30 per tonne and had limited surplus supplies for export. The Reuters report while citing Indian rice trade officials said that the pricing by China's traditional rice suppliers was more when compared to the Indian prices.