Rabi paddy arrivals from Telangana trigger decline in rice prices
BY D.CHANDRABHASKAR RAO
Increasing arrivals of the Yasangi (Rabi) paddy in Telangana’s markets have significantly impacted rice prices. The State is a leading producer of Rabi paddy followed by Tamil Nadu and to some extent Odisha. In less than one month of the commencement of the Rabi harvest operations, both government agencies and private traders have purchased nearly 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from farmers in the State, according to officials.
According to millers and wholesale traders, non-basmati rice prices have fallen by up to 7 per cent in April consequent to the arrival of new crop. The popular non-basmati variety, Sona Masoori, is now priced at Rs.58 per kg in the retail market as against Rs.62 per kg last month. On the whole, rice prices have seen a drop of Rs.10 per kg on an average.
The prices may witness a further decline with paddy arrivals in the markets picking up as expected by the end of this month. The Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), Government of India has projected the paddy procurement by States for Rabi crop during 2023-24 at 90 lakh metric tonnes to one crore metric tonnes. Telangana alone seeks to meet 60 per cent of the estimate.
The area under paddy during Yasangi witnessed a drop by five lakh acres, because of the shortage of water that paved the way for a crop holiday under the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) in Krishna basin and Kaddam project in Godavari basin. But the Rabi paddy output projection (for Yasangi 2023-24) in the State was put at 102.91 lakh metric tonnes.
The Yasangi paddy from Telangana has started flooding the markets in neighbouring States in a big way impacting the price. Millers from Andhra Pradesh are also taking paddy from Miryalaguda and Nalgonda to meet their requirement for the year, according to a major rice exporter from Andhra Pradesh. Rice millers in Telangana are already overburdened with the paddy stocks from the previous seasons. Telangana had a huge stockpile of stocks to be disposed or lifted from the 2022-23 season procurement. The States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu also witnessed considerable raise in paddy production thus reducing their demand for Telangana paddy.
Even the Basmati price also witnessed a drop because of tough competition from Basmati farmers in Pakistan and a few other South Asian countries. The exporters are eagerly awaiting some relaxation in the restriction on the export of white rice after July next.
Non Basmati rice prices fallen by seven per cent
Wholesale prices witnessed average drop of Rs 10 per kg
Govt agencies and traders bought 10 lakh tonnes from TS farmers
Rabi paddy from TS set to flood neighbouring markets
This article has been republished from The Telangana Today.