India exports non-basmati rice despite ban

The government has approved exports of close to 10 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice in 2009-10 to neighbouring countries as well as some African nations on diplomatic grounds even as the grain export is banned. Exports of 9.52 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice were cleared. Central public sector undertakings such as MMTC, STC and PEC were asked to negotiate the deals at market prices. "The ban is not applicable on shipments under food aid programme, diplomatic and strategic reasons and bilateral agreement through MMTC, STC and PEC," an official said. The maximum quantity — 1.44 lakh tonnes — was allowed for African nation Cote D'Ivoire, followed by 1.41 lakh tonnes to Senegal. Sri Lanka, Nepal and Mauritius were also covered under the scheme. In April 2008, export of non-basmati rice was banned to augment domestic supply and check food prices. The annual food inflation is ruling above 16 per cent. However, there is no restriction on shipments of Basmati, a premium variety of rice, subject to minimum export price of $900 a tonne. According to official estimates, rice production is pegged at 875.6 lakh tonnes in the 2009-10 season, against 991.8 lakh tonnes last year season.

India’s basmati rice exports may touch record level

India may export record quantity of basmati rice in this financial year due to increasing global demand and rise in production of premium rice, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Tuesday citing industrial and government estimates. The country’s basmati exports are expected to touch a record of 2.7 million metric tonnes in the current fiscal that ends on March 31. When compared to last year, the production of basmati rice registered modest growth rate this year due to many farmers shifted to premium rice because of poor monsoon rains as the basmati rice consumes less water. Meanwhile, the global demand for the premium rice remained strong despite economic crisis. Earlier, the exports from India stood minimal due to the imposition of an export tax of $200 per tonne in order to ensure enough supply in the domestic market. India had to face stiff competition from Pakistan earlier as the export tax of $200 a tonne made the Indian basmati costlier. However, after the withdrawal of the tax in January last year, the basmati exports revived to rise sharply. India, the largest basmati producer, exported 1.55 million to 2 million tons in the last fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, various trade and government data show. India’s basmati exports are likely to rise by 40% this fiscal as against previous year due to a bigger crop size and good demand for Pusa 1121, A.K. Gupta, adviser to the state-run Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority was quoted by Dow Jones. Exporters have signed deals to ship more than 1.07 million tons to the United Arab Emirates, 800,000 to Saudi Arabia and over 251,244 tons to Iran.

India leaves minimum export price on basmati rice unchanged

India ruled out any plan to increase the minimum export price of basmati rice for now, said country’s Agriculture and Food Minister on Thursday. Talking to reporters, after a high level ministerial panel’s meeting, Sharad Pawar said, the Commerce Ministry withdrawn the proposal and will continue to keep floor price at $900 a tonne. Earlier, the government decided to raise the floor price of basmati rice from current level to $ 1100 per tonne in order to boost domestic supply in the wake of shortage in output due to the weak monsoon. However, the government has envisaged another plan augment the supply of cheap food grains to poor in the country. Pawar said the Central government has drafted a law that ensures cheap food grains to poor in the country. The law would take to cabinet for the approval in the next week, said the Minister. Food prices rose 16.3% from a year earlier in the first week of March. Last month, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his annual budget speech that the food security law will be introduced soon, amid widespread concern that another year of bad monsoon could hit the country’s ability to feed its millions. India last year received the lowest monsoon rainfall in nearly four decades, which hit production of summer-sown crops, mainly of rice.

India Basmati export orders up 43.75% in April-Dec

Basmati rice export contracts during the first nine months of this fiscal crossed 23 lakh tonnes, posting 43.75 per cent growth, over 16 lakh tones in the same period previous year, on the back of high demand for the Pusa 1121 variety and lowe r benchmark price.

According to APEDA, in the entire 2008-09 fiscal, export contracts stood at 23 lakh tonnes.

Basmati rice export is calculated on the basis of the export orders registered with APEDA as the data on actual shipments come much late.

"In the next three months, six to seven lakh tonne more contracts may be registered, taking the total export to 29-30 lakh tonnes," said the All-India Rice Exporters' Association former President, Mr Vijay Setia.

Asked about the actual shipments, he said below two per cent contracts may not be executed in the current fiscal as there is good demand for the Indian variety of the grain.

Mr Setia noted that the Pusa 1121 variety, which was declared as Basmati in 2008, has a share of 60-65 per cent in the overall exports.

Traders said the Pusa 1121 variety is being contracted at $1,500 a tonne. The export price was about $900 a tonne in October 2008, when the new crop started arriving in the market.

Indian to record-high harvest

Indian Department of Agricultural Research is forecasting record-high production for the next crop. No news of export ban lift, except for PUSA-1121 which is now allowed for export at a minimum export price of 1.200 USD. Basmati export should also rise to record-high level.

Inland container depots reject rice cargoes

The latest Government of India decision to restrict export of both basmati and non-basmati rice through four select ports of JNPT, Mumbai, Kakinda and Kolkatta has led to a piquant situation as the basmati rice exporters from Delhi are unable to send their cargo through the Inland Container Depots (ICDs).
Exporters told Business Line here that since the notification of March 5, 2008 has not clarified about export of basmati and non-basmati rice exports through the ICDs which are deemed dry ports, customs authorities in the ICDs here are not accepting the basmati rice export cargo in ICDs for the needed customs clearance of the goods. Since the notification was issued, no rice cargo export has supervened from the ICD ports, they said, adding that they would meet the DGFT for clarification.

Pak challenges India's Super Basmati claim

The Indian and Pakistani commerce ministers might come out on Wednesday with a positive statement on the long-pending joint Geographical Indications(GI) on Basmati but a notice from Islamabad to New Delhi on registering Super Basmati has already spiked the mood against such a move.

The notice sent to the Indian government, confirmed by sources in the commerce ministry, comes in the wake of India registering Super Basmati variety in 2006 for export.

Pakistan believes India's registration of the variety could hit its international market. Pakistan exports close to 800,000 tonnes of the variety annually.

But Indian groups contend that the registration of Super Basmati came as a retaliatory move when Pakistan in negotiations with EU registered the right in 2004 to export Pusa Basmati — a variety known to be widespread in India.

The Indian government's reciprocal action came within two weeks of the Pakistani move. Sources said that the Indian right over Super was bound to stand any legal challenge that Pakistan might put up in pursuance of the notice.

"We registered Super as a Indian variety only after research done by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) confirmed that the Super variety was the same as a Indian variety traded traditionally in the country as Shabnam or Sikandar generic names. This study had been confirmed in 2003," sources told TOI.

They emphasised that despite the PAU study being available with India, the government did not move on the issue till Pakistan went ahead and registered the Pusa variety as theirs. Officially though, sources said, the issue came up for discussion during the commerce secretary level talks on Tuesday and the two countries seemed to have agreed to work together. A joint statement is expected on Wednesday sources said.

Sources in the commerce ministry raise doubt about how India would progress on the GI issue in the wake of the legal notice even though Pakistan is keen to move on both fronts — attack the Super Basmati registration and look at the possibility of a joint GI.

"It's a rather contradictory move on Pakistan's part. It will be difficult to move on the GI issue without resolving the legal conundrum on Super Basmati," sources in commerce ministry told.

The joint GI has been lying on the backburner for long with trading lobbies in India and Pakistan at loggerheads over basmati trade issues, as TOI had reported earlier. Within India, the agriculture and commerce ministries too have too been playing different tunes on the basmati issue.

Sources say that the key trouble with defining a GI for Basmati is the way Basmati is defined. Tweaking the Basmati definition one way or the other could end up with gains or losses not only for traders but also farmers across the country growing different traditional or evolved varieties of the aromatic rice.

Weak Dollar, Iran Send Price of Basmati Rice Up

Basmati rice prices have soared to historic highs in Saudi Arabia due to a decrease in supply from the previous harvest.

Manar Al-Baroudi, marketing manager of Tilda Company in Saudi Arabia, said the arrival of the Indian crop in October saw anxious buying activity amid low global stock levels.

“Initial panic buying led to traditional Basmati prices rising quickly to 30 percent over the previous season,” said Al-Baroudi. “Opening market prices started at 1,700 to 1,800 Indian rupees per quintal at auction. With such high prices many buyers remained cautious. However, by April prices at auction were soaring, achieving 2,200 Indian rupees per quintal. This represents an increase of 55 percent over 2005 prices.”

Al-Baroudi said that for Pusa & Super Basmati prices also climbed rapidly reaching 1,350 Indian rupees per quintal. This was 30 percent higher than last season and again buyers might have anticipated the market had peaked.

“In the space of approximately three weeks the value of the rupee appreciated by about 12 percent against the US dollar and this has now started to be reflected in the prices quoted by exporters,” Al-Baroudi said.

The situation in Pakistan is even more acute as rice shipments have rapidly declined and created shortages. According to market analysts, a widespread fear of an American food embargo has caused Iran to stockpile three years worth of consumption, paying in some cases almost double last year’s price. Most of the rice is being officially exported to Iran, but instances of smuggling have been reported by the English language daily Dawn.

An increase in the price of commodities has forced the government to ban the export of pulses from Pakistan. In the case of rice, prices in the local market have risen 50 to 75 percent and the country may soon be importing rice for the first time in its history to meet domestic demand.

With the next crop not due until November 2007 and the scarcity of Basmati, there will be increased incentives for unscrupulous traders to adulterate their rice with inferior and non-Basmati grains despite the fact this practice is outlawed in the European Union and other countries.

He added that price increases had already begun to filter through the supply chain on the back of the initial 30 percent rise observed at harvest time in October 2006.

Meanwhile, a report of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry a couple of days ago showed a rise in the prices of the major food items while the prices of red meat including locally-bred meat and sugar showed a slight fall in the second quarter of the year.

The consumer price index in the Kingdom rose by 0.2 percent in June compared to the previous month, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Because the riyal is pegged to the dollar, a weakening US currency can cause inflation in products and services, especially goods and services from the Euro zone.

India Farm Ministry notifies evolved basmati variety for export

The Agriculture Ministry has notified “Improved Pusa Basmati-1” in a move to popularise this evolved variety for export and augmenting farmers’ income. In the face of the Commerce Ministry’s continued reluctance to remove the embargo of one traditional parent clause in the definition of basmati rice for notification purposes for export and its proposal to delete adherence to Seeds Act, 1966, the Agriculture Ministry has come up with this notification. The Ministry of Agriculture notified on July 20 Improved Pusa Basmati-1, an evolved variety developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.

Pusa basmati-1 today accounts for more than 60 per cent of basmati rice exports from the country and is likely that the newly notified ‘improved Pusa Basmati-1’ would increasingly replace the extant “Pusa basmati-1” in the coming years in view of its improved quality and competitiveness.

Indo-Pak basmati registration to take time

India is unlikely to find it easy clinching registration of geographical indication (GI) for basmati rice jointly with Pakistan, even if the process were to be speeded up.

Irked over a type of basmati called Super Basmati being exported by India to the EU, Pakistan’s Basmati Growers’ Association, has reportedly sought permission from Pakistan’s commerce minister Humayun Akhtar Khan to file a separate petition in New Delhi challenging the relevant notification of the Indian commerce department. That notification was issued on May 24, 2006 and approves the export of the Super basmati from India.

The alleged loss to Pakistani exports is $300-$500 million as a result of Indian traders exporting the Super variety. In December 2005, the Pakistani BGA applied for GI registration of Basmati to the trade mark registrar at Karachi.

However, according to reports in the Pakistani media, Rice Exporters’ Association of Pakistan opposed this, making India hopeful of a joint Indo-Pak registration of GI. In May, Commerce minister Kamal Nath asked Pakistan to speed up the process of joint filing for a GI for basmati.

He then wrote to the Pakistan government, seeking information from the neighbouring country on the locations to register the GI application, stating that India had already chosen members of the joint taskforce, while Pakistan had yet to do that. Pakistan has not enacted a legislation on GI, he pointed out.

The implication of Mr Nath’s letter was that Pakistan was dragging its feet on the issue because its basmati exports world-wide had taken a drubbing from India, particularly in the EU, due to its superior quality.

Pakistan falls 3% short of rice export target

Pakistan fell short to achieve the rice export target for the fiscal year 2006-07 due to the low production and non-availability of surplus quantity for exports.

The export target for 2006-07 was fixed at $1.27 billion but only $1.2 billion was achieved reflecting a loss of $7 million. While the export target for 2005-06 was $1 billion and $1.5 billion was achieved, resulting in an increase of $5 million.

During the fiscal year 2006-07 the export of rice went down by 4,00,000 tonnes in terms of quantity and 3 percent value wise, Chairman of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Aziz Maniya said. Mr Maniya said that the next rice export fiscal year target would be easily achieved if the weather and water supply conditions remain feasible.

In the last fiscal year around 2.3 million tonnes of rice was exported. The short crop is the main reason for not achieving the target, although the exporters have still managed to emerge good results, he added. Mr Mania said it is expected that for this year the government will set a target of $1.35 as compared to $1.27 billion target of 2006-2007.

According to Chairman REAP, this year the average price of basmati is $1,100 per tonne, rising from $650 per ton last year from November 2006. Similarly, IRRI-6 is exported at $300 per tonne which was $215 per tonne at the start of the season,” he added.

This year a large quantity of Basmati rice was exported in UAE and Iran while IRRI-6 was exported in African countries, as exports this year have increased to Iran, both through formal and informal channels, he added.

This year a six percent shortage has been recorded in rice production globally. Since November 2006, the international prices of Basmati rice have surged by 35 to 40 percent due to crop shortage in leading rice producing countries. As in this season China, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka have reported crop shortage particularly in coarse rice.

Due to the increase in demand the price is rapidly rising in the international market and Pakistani exporters are exporting those stocks as well that should have been sold locally that is why the local prices are rising.

Previously price of Super Basmati was Rs 40 per kg, Irri-9 from Rs 25 to Rs 30 and Irri-6 from Rs 18 to Rs 20. Currently Super Basmati is being sold at Rs 65-75 per kg, Irri-9 from Rs 35 to Rs 42 and Irri-6 for Rs 24-30.

In East European region Indian has a very strong hold and to compete them Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) has to work hard as in the international market every year demand of Basmati rice is rapidly increasing. Some rice traders dealing in domestic grain market complained that unchecked exports of rice had created shortage in the domestic market, and this had pushed up prices. Currently, all rice exports are handled by the private sector, which exported more than three million tonnes because of lower production in India, Pakistan’s main competitor.

Basmati price increase in the Gulf

For some time UAE importers of rice have been seeking retail price increases to reflect increases in wholesale prices.

The Ministry of Economy said it would not condone any substantial increases as it was an important part of most people's diet. According to importers, the price of Basmati rice from India and Pakistan was becoming prohibitive and as such importers were threatening to stop bringing in this most popular of all varieties of rice.

Pakistan's Rice Production Seen Falling 2 PCT Next Fiscal Yr

Pakistan's rice production in the next financial year 2007-08 has been estimated to fall 2 per cent to 5.4 million tons from 5.5 million in the current fiscal year.

The Food & Agriculture Ministry has taken several incentives to boost rice production in the country especially Basmati.

There is rising demand for Basmati across the world for its fragrance and good taste.

The area under Basmati cultivation increased by 1489.0 million hectares with 2666.40 million tons production estimated this year as compared to total area of 1474.24 million hectare and total production of 2493 million tons in fiscal 2006-07.

Per hectare yield rose from 2209kg per hectare to 2442kg per hectare.

APEDA moots amendment to basmati rice export rules

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has proposed to bring amendment to the Export of Basmati Rice (Quality Control and Inspection) Rules 2003 to notify Basmati 320 as a land race or traditional basmati variety in an unseemly hurry that might be detrimental to the conservation of real land race or traditional varieties
of basmati being exported by India.

The notification of Super Basmati as "approved and evolved basmati" last year only to export and not for domestic trade or otherwise has evoked the ire of Islamabad since Super was a variety developed by Pakistan in as much as it has decided to contest India's claim legally here.

Since super basmati itself was the combination of Basmati 320 (traditional variety) and IRR 662 (non-basmati rice variety), APEDA is now notifying Basmati 320 as a land race variety or traditional variety after notifying its offspring as basmati last year.

Sources keen to keep the scientific and research interests of maintaining the pure brood stock of basmati told Business Line here that Basmati 320 has seldom been documented by the Biodiversity Management Committee charged with conservation of Land Races or in the Plant Varieties Registry maintained in line with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001.

Indian Basmati export adulteration unveiled

For five years, Indian traders have been passing off a lesser quality rice, CSR 30, as Basmati, in key markets like the US, Canada and the EU. And this with the full knowledge of the trade and the government. In the process, the rice exports enjoy the duty exemption accorded to pure Basmati in the EU, thousands of consumers get duped both in the domestic and export markets,
and the stock of traditional grain gets depleted on Indian farms.

CSR 30 has only 80% of traditional Basmati aroma and is shorter and broader - but is as grainy and tasty when cooked. Its presence in Basmati export consignments to the EU was brought up in May by European Commission DG Jesus Zorrila, in a meeting with India's government-cum-trade delegation to Brussels.

EU laws take a stringent view of fraudulent activities on the Basmati front and the EC regulation No. 972/2006 provides for the introduction of a control system based on DNA analysis at the border and transitional arrangements for imports of Basmati rice pending that. In London, the
delegation had to countenance similar queries.

An alert on the Basmati hoax was put out by key world rice newsletters in June. "A DNA rice authenticity verification service in India has concluded that more than 30% of the Basmati rice sold in the retail markets of the US and Canada is adulterated with inferior quality grains," the June 19 Oryza newsletter said. It referred to a survey in public interest conducted by
Ricesearch, a state-of-the-art DNA testing facility set up by Tilda, exporter of premium Basmati that has a major footprint in the US, Canada,the UK and west Asian markets.

Ironically, BEDF and Apeda as well asExport Inspection Council, which issues the authentification certificate, are likely to be aware that CSR 30 now dominates Basmati area in key states. A November 2006 satellite-based acreage estimation by the Birla Technical Services annually for Apeda reveals that in kharif 2006, at 70,489 hectare, it covered 197% of the land
covered by HBC 19 in Haryana, where big exporters source a big chunk of their produce. That translated to 229% of the production (at 2,22,759 tonne) of notified varieties (97,365 tonne).

Overall, in the Basmati-growing regions of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Jammu & Kashmir, however, CSR 30 accounted for a total of 2,59,181 tonne in 2006 compared to the traditional Basmati produce of 5,37,174 tonne, i.e., 48% of the total produce. This was sufficient to have raised alarm bells in official quarters who certify rice exports as Basmati.

The adulteration issue could, even while significantly downmarking the heritage association with Indian Basmati, impact attempts ostensibly being made by the Centre to register the Geographical Identification (GI) of Basmati. GI registration would allow all evolved varieties similar to the traditional Basmati and grown in the specified region (11 in all, with six
traditional and five evolved varieties) for similar duty exemptions. However, traders would have to pay the same price to the farmer here for all the varieties labelled Basmati. Currently, traders typically pay Rs 700 less per quintal of CSR 30 paddy to the farmer compared to the price for
traditional Basmati variety, even while passing off the two varieties as the same abroad.

Agri scientists and geneticists, meanwhile, are worried that the high premium placed on the traditional Basmati by traders even while they pass of the extensive research-backed hybrids varieties as land race or pureline rain, will take away from decades of hard scientific work that went into ceation of the evolved varieties.

India, Pakistan rice traders to hold talks over Basmati rice

As Pakistan reportedly plans to take legal action against India over a dispute on patenting of Super Basmati rice, rice exporters of both the countries will meet in New Delhi on July 18 to discuss the prospects of joint registration and a joint export strategy.

Pakistan Basmati export to UAE

Not only has an artificial and exorbitant increase in prices of rice led to the imposition of a cap or limited the amount of money that can be charged for each kilogram of rice by the UAE, it has resulted in a decline of exports, putting Pakistani exporters in a difficult situation, according to
leading traders of this commodity.

They said that prices of all varieties of Pakistani rice have become unaffordable in major international markets. Irri-6 25 percent broken, the cheapest variety of Pakistan's coarse rice, mainly exported to African countries, has now crossed the level of $295 per ton thus surrendering the market to Thai origin rice.

Local rice exporters pointed out that many rice importers in UAE have ceased placing new orders to their suppliers from Pakistan owing to high prices of non-basmati rice in general and Basmati in particular. As a result, exports of Pakistan's Basmati in particular and other rice in general have decreased considerably.

The UAE is one of the major traditional markets of Pakistani Basmati rice. It imported 231,056 tons, for $117,216,964, during 2005-06, while from July 2006 to May 2007 about 205,913 tons, worth $125,890,697, Basmati was exported to UAE.

As a result of sudden price increase in Pakistan's local market, export cost prices of Basmati rice have soared considerably, which is badly affecting sales in established Pakistani Basmati markets.

This price hike and costly imports of Basmati into UAE also affected this important market and forced the importers to raise their prices. The vigilance monitoring of local authorities alerted their high-ups to come into action and their local Municipality (Baldiya) issued directives to fix
ceiling prices in UAE market up to maximum level of UAE Dhs.115 per 39 kg bag which is far below the prevailing market price of Super Basmati rice in Pakistan at present.

This fixation of price ceiling has created panic among leading importers of Pak Super Basmati who have stopped placing further orders to their counterparts in Pakistan. This restriction of ceiling price is only on Pakistani Super Basmati rice largely being sold under 'Sinnara' brand, while such restriction has not been imposed on Indian Basmati.

According to market sources, Indian Basmati brands wholesale prices are for 'Tilda' 20 kg bag at UAE Dhs. 220 to 240, 'India Gate' 20 kg at Dhs.200, 'Kohinoor' 20 kg at Dhs.180.

This important issue was brought to the notice of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) and relevant ministries in March 2007 but no tangible solution has been evolved yet. This price restriction is harming rice exports from Pakistan due to high prices here in Pakistan.

Shrewd importers have started playing with quality with the connivance of their suppliers, thus ruining the perception of Pakistani Basmati rice in consumers' mind at the one hand and providing chance to anti-lobby to speak ill against Pakistan Basmati, on the other. The tragic side of the story is that neither the government of Pakistan nor the Reap is prepared to cope
with the situation.

One of the leading exporters to UAE told Business Recorder that he was incurring huge financial losses owing to this price restriction as he has no option except to sell below cost just to keep alive the brand in the UAE market which has maximum market share.

Another leading rice exporter to UAE said that this ceiling price is a conspiracy against Pakistan Super Basmati rice which was dominating UAE market and decision has been imposed only on Pakistan origin while Indians are selling their brands at higher prices without any restriction. On the other hand, Indian government and the Indian rice exporters both are active in the UAE to defame Pakistani Basmati rice.

They are offering free testing of Pakistani blended rice - exported from Pakistan on the name of pure basmati rice on the directives of the UAE importers - just to influence on UAE government to ban the import of Pakistani Basmati rice in the UAE so that they could enjoy free market hold.

"This is another dilemma of price hike being faced by us", he said, and demanded that the Government of Pakistan should crackdown hoarders and speculators who have artificially increased prices in the domestic market which now creating problems for them in export sales.

"Our new crop of Basmati is 6 months away and if this price hike persists, we apprehend that we may lose important market share of Basmati owing to our higher local cost and resultantly steep decline in rice exports are expected in near future," another leading rice exporter said.

Pakistan to increase Basmati output

Official sources reported that area under Basmati cultivation has been increased by 1489.0 million hectare and 2666.40 million tons production has been prepared to produce this year as compared to the total area of 1474.24 million hectare and total production of 2493 million tons in 2006-07.

EU to require DNA testing for Basmati import

The sources said that since the European Commission had issued a regulation in August 2004 on basmati rice for the purpose of Import Duty Abatement, it was necessary to issue a notification on inclusion of 'super variety' as one of the recognised variety of India and this was pushed by India into the Letter of Exchange, though subsequently only the notification was issued by the Commerce Ministry.

Available trade figures with the EU suggest that India exported 1.78 lakh tonnes of basmati rice to the EU which increased to 2.26 lakh tonnes in 2006-07 till June 12, 2007, while Pakistan's exports to EU which was just 41,478 tonnes in 2005-06 skidded to 27,000 tonnes in 2006-07.

Concerned by the steep rise in basmati rice imports from India, Brussels is planning to put in place a DNA testing protocol, which could allow imports of "genuine" basmati rice only.