Chandigarh, India, Aug 29 - Farmers in India's bread-basket state of Punjab have increased output of premium grades of rice by more than half, and traders say they expect authorites to ease export curbs after a bumper harvest.
India, the world's second-largest rice producer, banned most rice shipments in March, triggering a wave of panic buying of Asia's staple food Rice and a surge in prices.
"The area under premium rice varieties is much higher than in previous years. Earlier, we had about 5-6 per cent under basmati and other superior strains...in Punjab. This year it is more than 10 per cent," Gurdial Singh, joint director of agriculture, told Reuters.
Officials say India is set to buy record quantities of rice from farmers this year. [ID:nDEL231504].
The premium varieties include PUSA 1121, sharbati and sugandha.
"The government may notify PUSA as Basmati. Farmers are waiting for it. There is still two months time," Ashok Sethi, secretary of Punjab Rice Exporters Association.
However some traders expect export curbs to continue.
India will review its ban on non-basmati exports in November, and the possible return of the world's second-biggest rice exporter last year will add further pressure to prices that have slid around a third from their May record high.
Randeep Singh Sandhu, who cultivates basmati and PUSA 1121 in 70 acres (28 hectares) of farmland at Sarhali Kalan in the Taran Taran district of the state said he expected export controls to be easead.
"We are expecting the government to announce that PUSA 1121 would be notified as basmati after the government takes stock of arrival of common variety of paddy," Sandhu said.
Government officials said in June that the farm ministry was considering broadening the definition of basmati, a move that will exempt 400,000 tonnes of long aromatic grain from an export ban and help farmers get a better price.
Area under basmati and other premium grades has risen to 350,000 hectares (864,000 acres) this year, up 55 percent from 225,000 hectares a year ago, Gurdial Singh said.
The total area under paddy in the state has also risen slightly to around 2.67 million hectares from 2.61 million hectares a year ago.
Industry officials say farmers in Punjab were encouraged by high prices for premium grades.
"Farmers earned in excess of 3,000 rupees ($68.5) per 100 kg for basmati while PUSA 1121 and other varieties were sold between 1,600 and 2,400 rupees per 100 kg in 2007," said H S Bains, senior manager at Markfed, the apex co-operative marketing federation of Punjab.
Farmers were rapidly increasing the area under PUSA 1121 as this variety also gave a higher yield, P.S. Rangi, marketing consultant, Punjab State Farmers Commission (PSFC), said.