Mauritius is looking to enter into long -term deals with India for import of around 33,000 tonnes of rice to keep its subsidised food programme running and to ease out Pakistan’s rice exports. Pakistan has become a significant supplier of rice to Mauritius said Takesh Luckho, chairman of Mauritius State Trading Corporation.
Luckho, speaking at a global rice conference reportedly said that Pakistan’s rice has become a major grain in the country since India banned non-basmati rice exports in 2023 to cool down domestic markets. He said before the ban, the majority of the rice was supplied by India through long-term deals. Following the ban of Indian non-basmati rice, the Mauritius government started a process of open tendering, which turned out to be a gamechanger for Pakistan’s rice. Pakistan gradually captured the market since India exports of non-basmati rice was banned. Even though during the ban period some amount of rice was supplied from government-to-government deals, it was not enough to fulfil the need of Mauritius as a nation. Keeping the requirement of agriculture items in consideration Mauritius annually requires around 1,000 tonnes of basmati rice and 32,000 tonnes of non-basmati white rice.
Lesser-Known Global Rice News & Facts Related to Mauritius
A very rare point that not many apart from the citizens of Mauritius are aware is that the country since its formative years, has been supplying non-basmati white rice to its 1.3 million people at a highly subsidised rate as a welfare measure. A 2.5-kilogram packet of white rice sold to beneficiaries is priced at around 26 Mauritian rupees (one Mauritian rupee is equivalent to around 1.94 Indian rupees). “The same packet in the open market costs around 56 Mauritian rupees,” Luckho said. With Mauritius now trying to review rice ties with India to ease out Pakistan’s Rice Exports was visible with the recent visit of Mauritian Prime Minister Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam to India.
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