Indian move to geographically label basmati rice officially challenged — Pakistani commerce minister

KARACHI: Pakistan on Tuesday submitted an official application to counter India’s move to geographically label basmati rice and grain in the European Union (EU), the commerce minister has said.
Developing countries are increasingly using geographic labeling to boost the value of products ranging from carpets to rice, raising rural incomes and protecting farm land. Geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographic origin, which gives them certain qualities or a reputation, such as sparkling wine from Champagne and tea from Darjeeling.
India applied for the geographical tag in the EU in September, with Pakistan getting around three months to respond to the Indian application and file a counter application. The country’s rice exporters face the risk of losing a huge European market if India succeeds in the geographical labeling, exporters say.
Pakistan exports more than 700,000 tons of basmati rice each year, including around 250,000 tons to EU member countries. In the last fiscal year, Pakistan exported $2.17 billion worth of rice, of which the share of basmati rice was $790.8 million, 25 percent higher than the previous year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
“This issue is very, very important for Pakistan because how can any other country take the name which belongs to us,” Abdul Razak Dawood, the de facto commerce minister told Arab News, saying his ministry had submitted a notice of opposition three days ahead of the expiry of the deadline to challenge India, which ends on December 11, 2020. “Who are they to rob us of it [basmati rice GI]? They have no right to it.”
According to the Indian application published in the EU’s official journal on September 11, 2020, basmati is a special long grain aromatic rice grown and produced in a particular geographical region of the Indian sub-continent, below the foothills of the Himalayas.
The name basmati is derived from two Sanskrit word roots, ‘vas’ meaning ‘aroma’ and ‘mati’ meaning ‘ingrained from the origin’, the Indian application says, adding that the first recorded reference to basmati rice is found in the Punjabi poem Heer Ranjha by the poet Varis Shah in 1766.
The Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) has also filed a ‘Notice of Opposition’ in the European Union against India.
“REAP has taken this step itself on behalf of rice exporters and farmers of Pakistan to protect their interest,” REAP chairman Abdul Qayum Paracha said, adding that Pakistani rice growers and exporters were at the risk of losing billions of dollars in earnings if India got the GI tag.
“Pakistan has a thriving industry of export of basmati, thus making Pakistan one of the top five exporters of rice in the world,” a REAP statement issued on Tuesday said. “India had sought protection of its basmati as a GI product in EU in a mala fide attempt to deter Pakistan’s growing export and appreciation of basmati.”
“Basmati, being a centuries old heritage of Pakistan, can not be allowed to be monopolized by India in the European market. Such a gross misrepresentation by India on the origins of basmati is an attack on the values of fair competition among farmers and exporters in EU”, the statement added.