EU set to ban Indian basmati

BASMATI rice could be banned in the UK from the new year if a resolution is not found over the use of a pesticide used by farmers in India.

Conservative MEP Syed Kamall warned last Sunday (15) of a price rise as well as a “disastrous” impact on basmati farmers in India if the matter was not sorted out soon.

The controversy is over the use of tricyclazole pesticide after the EU commission ordered manufacturers to reduce the amount being used. The limit is due to be slashed from one milligram to 0.01 milligram per kilo, a hundredth of its current legal level.
India produces 60 per cent of the world’s basmati rice and accounts for 80 per cent of the EU’s imports, Kamall said.

Approximately 360,000 tons of the fragrant rice are imported each year by the EU, 150,000 of which come to Britain.

Earlier this summer, Indian government officials said they needed at least two crop cycles to adopt the new EU guidelines on tricyclazole.

However, if no resolution is found in the next few weeks, basmati from India could be banned in this country from as early as January 2018.