Rice is one of the leading food crops of the world, and is produced in all the continents. Rice was an important food even before the dawn of written history. One centre of origin of cultivated rice is thought to have been in South East Asia. That is, in eastern India. Indo-China and Southern China, Another probably was in Africa. Rice is one of the most important food grains. It is used in almost all homes as eatables. It has good filling capacity as a food grains.
Agriculture is the main occupation of the rural population in West Bengal. Among various crops, rice is the principal food crop of the State. West Bengal is the largest producer of rice in the country with an annual output of around 150 Lakh Tonnes. The rice is obtained after hulling/DE husking of paddy in a rice mill.
The paddy comprises of 65% milled rice, 24%husk, 5% bran layers. Paddy in its raw form cannot be consumed by human beings. It needs to be suitably processed for obtaining rice. Rice milling is the process which helps in removal of hulls and bran from paddy grains to produce polishedrice. Rice milling is the process of removal of husk and bran layer from the paddy to produce whole white rice kernel. The rice should be free from impurities and should contain minimum number of broken grains. Food Corporation of India (FCI) is the main purchaser of rice. About 20 to 25% of total production of rice isprocured by FCI for at Minimum Support Price for Public Distribution System.
The production in India (about 40 million tonnes) forms about 40 percent of total production of all food grains. There are a number of big rice plates in India apart from about 60,000 small rice mills of less than 2 tonnes per hour capacity. However, there is still a scope for setting up mini rice plant in various parts of India with a view to meet the local demand and providing employment to local people.
India has about 82000 registered single huller units, 2600 double hulling unit, 5000 units of disc sheller cum polisher and 10000 units of rubber roll sheller. Theaverage capacity of these units ranges between 2 tonnes per hour to 10 tonnes perhour. In India, rice milling business has a turnover of more than Rs.25, 500croreper annum. Among other states, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh etc. also produce large quantities of rice.
Rice provides about 20 percent of the global average calorie intake. Although produced and consumed across the five major continents, the crop is concentrated overwhelmingly in Asia, which accounts for some 90 percent of global production and consumption, with China and India alone responsible for about half of the world total. Rice is mostly consumed in the country where it is produced, so trade in rice is small, both in absolute terms and as a proportion ofglobal production. Since the early 1990s, the volumes of rice exchanged internationally have risen quantity-wise, but also in relation to production, resulting in a expanding and strengthening of the International rice market.
The India rice milling market is expected to value an estimated USD 392.6 million by the end of 2022 and witness a steady CAGR of 3.51% during the forecast period of 2016 - 2022. The high production of rice in this region and increasing demand for good quality rice are some key drivers for the growth of the rice milling market in India.
India being one of the world’s largest producers of rice, possesses a significant rice milling market. A global and local increase in population has led to a higher production of rice in the country to meet both domestic and export demands.
Few Indian major players are as under
Best Foods Ltd.
Bajaj Basmati Pvt. Ltd.
Baba Agro Food Ltd.
Amira Pure Foods Pvt. Ltd.
Alia Rice Mill Pvt. Ltd.
Almaha Foods Intl. Pvt. Ltd.
Chennai Gate Rice Inds. Pvt. Ltd.
