Basmati paddy has crossed Rs 5,000 a quintal in mandis across Punjab and Haryana, and the popular Pusa 1121 variety has touched Rs 5,500 in some markets, giving growers some relief in a season of smaller paddy area and weather damage to the crop, Rural Voice reports.
Farmers are now receiving about Rs 4,500-5,500 a quintal, against Rs 3,500-4,500 at the same time last year, or Rs 1,000-1,500 more. The main reason is stronger demand from West Asian and Gulf countries: with the conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran raising worries about food security, importing countries are building up their rice stocks.
Satish Goyal, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA), told Rural Voice that strong international demand has let exporters offer farmers better prices. Exporters, he said, are also contending with rising ocean freight rates and uncertainty on key shipping routes.
Some growers are not rushing to sell. Tejveer Singh, a farmer from Ambala district in Haryana and a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh), said farmers had expected higher basmati prices this year because of the international situation, and many are holding back produce in the hope of more. The harvest has only just begun, he said, and farmers expect prices to rise further by December.
Milled rice has followed paddy upwards. In Delhi, 1121 basmati rice has reached Rs 10,600-10,800 a quintal, and in Karnal, Haryana, it trades at about Rs 9,525-9,725. At Mundra and Kandla ports, the export price of 1121 basmati rose about 6% in a week to $1,156 a tonne.
West Asia and the Gulf take a large share of India's basmati. The country exported 6.521 million tonnes in the 2025-26 financial year, worth $5.67 billion, or about Rs 50,138 crore, with Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates among the biggest buyers. Exporters are worried, though, that a further rise in domestic paddy prices could weaken India's competitiveness abroad.
Reporting by Ajeet Singh for Rural Voice.
Photo: Tanta.dpk / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Rural Voice
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