Pakistan Gets GI Tag For Basmati Rice

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On 27^th January, 2021, Pakistan secured the GI tag for its Basmati rice.
Experts on Basmati rice and patents have said that this would not be a worry for India’s exports.
Both Pakistan and India had been exporting basmati to the EU without a GI tag from the bloc so far.
However, a formal recognition will give a boost to business.

The need for a GI tag

In the late 1990s, American firm RiceTec tried to patent the Basmati rice in US, under the Texmati brand.
USA is not a party to the UN Convention on Biodiversity.
Navdanya, Dehradun challenged the biopiracy, and in 1999 India enacted its GI law.

Basmati is a registered GI in India (application number 145).
Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir are the GI registered producers of Basmati.
Madhya Pradesh also claimed to market rice under Basmati tag.
APEDA was asked by the GI registry to include Madhya Pradesh among those states that grow Basmati, in December 2013.

The European Union issued new standards in the pesticides residue content in Basmati in 2017 to deem it fit for import.
The new norms have resulted in the drop in exports of Basmati to the European Union.
Presence of chemicals in Basmati being imported from India and Pakistan was discussed in the EU in 2020.

Getting the GI tag enables those holding the right, to prevent a third-party from using the tag if their product does not match up to the pertinent standards.
This does not mean that the holder of the tag can stop anyone else who is producing using the same techniques as per the set standards.

The application was published in an official EU journal on September 11, 2020, after clearing internal evaluations.
According to the EU’s regulations, countries can file opposition to GI claims within a period of 3 months from the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, given that the country has its own GI Act.
The Pakistan Government enacted the GI (Registration and Protection) Act only in March 2020.
In India, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Acthas been in force since 1999.
However, at that point, Pakistan had not done the basic homework of getting a GI registration for Basmati within the country itself.
Now, Pakistan’s basmati rice has finally got a GI registration within the country.
So, the EU may grant the GI registration for basmati to both the countries together.
Basmati rice in Pakistan is grown mainly in its Punjab province, and its cultivation has extended to Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
Within Punjab, the traditional areas are lagging behind in production.
The cultivation of basmati rice in provinces other than Pakistan’s Punjab has diluted the exclusivity of its Basmati’s geographical territory.
Pakistan has to prove to the EU that it has been maintaining exclusivity of its regions cultivating basmati.

India is ahead in the race for GI tag from the EU as it already had long discussions with EU officials.
The discussions included the areas of cultivation in India that fall under basmati and the GIs on EU products that India should recognise.
Experts say that if the EU grants GI tags for Basmati to both India and Pakistan, it will not affect India’s exports.
India has been successfully exporting basmati to the EU without the EU’s GI tag so far.
India has a 65 per cent share in global basmati trade while Pakistan has the rest.
In financial year 2019-20, India produced 5 million tonnes (mt) of basmati rice.
During 2019-20, India earned ₹31,025 crore by exporting 4.45 mt basmati rice.
- 61% exported.
In FY2018-19, India’s basmati exports stood at 4.41 million tonnes (₹34,411 crores).
In the five years between 2014-15 and 2018-19, India’s Basmati exports have increased.
From about 99 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) in 2014-15, the export of Basmati has increased to 44.15 LMT in 2018-19.
- An increase of over 19%.

Pakistan’s export of Basmati has dropped from 77 LMT in 2014-15 to 5.37 LMT in 2018-19.
- Decrease of around 26%.

Europe has emerged as a major market as exports to Iran slowed down.
In the first eight months of FY21, exports to Iran fell 16%.
During Europe’s COVID-19 induced lockdowns, South Asians in Belgium and the Netherlands are stocking up on basmati rice from India.
India’s exports of basmati rice to Belgium have increased 60% in the first eight months of the current financial year.
- Imports by the Netherlands have almost doubled.
The common variety of basmati rice, 1121 Pusa, which is mostly exported, has been fetching a 15% higher price from November, 2020.
In Europe, consumers are drawn towards aromatic basmati rice for traditional dishes such as risotto or paella, and sushi.