U.S. New Fungicide Limits Likely to Boost India Basmati Rice Exports

The U.S. is likely to relax its import tolerance norms for a fungicide found in Indian basmati rice by July 2014.

Indian traders said that basmati rice shipments from India have been facing rejections by the U.S. in the last few years because of absence of the "maximum residue limit” (MRL) for Tricylazole fungicide which is used by some basmati rice farmers in India. The fungicide is manufactured by a U.S.-based company but is currently not registered in the U.S. which currently uses the default level of 0.1 parts per million (ppm) as harmful.

The manufacturer of Tricylazole fungicide submitted all toxicity data to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in September 2012, and recommended an import tolerance of 3 ppm for the fungicide. Last month, Indian basmati exporters appealed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner to find a solution.India's Commerce Ministry officials recently told local sources that the EPA is likely to decide on import tolerance limits for Tricylazole fungicide by July 2014.

Indian traders said the move is likely to boost India basmati rice exports. According to India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India exported about 91,546 tons of basmati rice to the U.S. in FY 2012-13 (April to March), which is about 3% of total basmati rice exports of around 3.46 million tons by India in the year. In FY 2013-14 (April – December), India’s total basmati rice exports stand at around 2.74 million tons, of which the U.S. accounts for around 81,769 tons (3% of total basmati rice exports by India).