China is importing broken Indian rice

China is known as the export powerhouse of the world. However, this export powerhouse is now broken and is importing broken rice from India. So, how did China land up here? Let’s find out.

China emerges as top importer of Indian rice

China has emerged as the top buyer of Indian rice during the Pandemic. The most populous country of the world imported 16.34 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of rice from India. This accounts for 7.7 percent of India’s total rice exports of 212.10 LMT in 2021-22.

Out of the total imports made by China, around 97 percent, that is, 15.76 LMT, was reportedly broken rice. China has therefore replaced African countries as the main destination for Indian rice exports.

India’s rice exports witness a quantum jump

India’s total rice exports have actually leapfrogged in this period. In 2021-22, India’s total exports of both basmati and non-basmati rice went up from 177.79 LMT in 2020-21 to 212.10 LMT. The rice export to China has jumped dramatically from 3.31 LMT to 16.34 LMT. This amounts to a total increment of around 392.20 percent.

Export of non-basmati rice forms the fulcrum of India’s total rice exports. During 2021-22, export of rice other than basmati was 172.62 LMT. It registered a hike of around 31.27 percent from 131.59 LMT in 2020-21.

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China particularly fond of India’s broken rice

India exported a total of 38.64 LMT of broken rice to 83 countries in the said period. If these countries, China is the one purchasing much of India’s broken rice. China imported 15.76 LMT of broken rice from India, a hike of 476.40-per cent up from the 2.73 LMT it imported in 2020-21.

China is particularly fond of India’s broken rice. The country consumes wine and noodles, which requires broken rice. Vijay Setia, former president of All India Rice Exporters Association, said, “China is buying mainly broken rice, which is converted to make wine and noodles.” In fact, China was looking to import India’s broken rice even before the COVID-19 outbreak. A Chinese delegation to India had even visited several rice mills to explore the possibility of importing the commodity.

And this is perhaps not the only reason to bolster rice exports. Experts say another reason for the increase in Chinese demand for rice from India could be increasing corn prices. The global food prices are peaking amidst the Russia-Ukraine war as Ukrainian grain exports to the rest of the world face a blockade from the Russian military.

China’s food security woes

Now, it seems actually off the mark to say that China is purchasing Indian rice only because of the demand to convert it into noodles and wine. If that was really the case, China would have been importing truckloads of Indian broken rice every year. Why it suddenly started importing Indian rice in a particular year? After all, the Chinese have been consuming wine and eating rice for several decades now. It isn’t as if they started consuming these commodities a couple of years ago.

Well, China has been facing a severe food crisis after the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In August 2020 itself, Chinese President Xi Jinping had made an unusual appeal to the people of China to avoid wasting any food. Later, his administration had even started a national campaign against wastage of food.

Read more: China runs out of food

The Pandemic and the lockdowns has themselves been a great disruptor in China. To add to its misery, summer floods in 2020 washed over fields close to the Yangtze River in China. Major rice-producing provinces in China including Hubei were then hard hit by the floods. This also explains the rice shortages that China has been facing since then.

For China however the latest reports of rice imports is bad PR. It shows that the second largest economy in the world and the so-called exports powerhouse is forced to depend on Indian rice for its survival.