The details of farm products exported to the US during 2012-13 is annexed at Annexure – I.

The import of farm produce into any country is governed by the trade regulations of the importing & exporting country. From time to time, the Government of India   takes up bilateral trade issues including Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) issues with the concerned country in various fora including bilateral meetings and interactions between the two countries.

Recently, basmati rice consignments were detained by USA Customs and these were cleared after testing of samples for presence of pesticide residue by USFDA. The Government had taken up the matter with the Government of USA to advise Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to examine the detailed dossier submitted by M/s Dow Agro Sciences for setting import tolerance on Tricyclazole in rice so that US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) may exercise enforcement discretion till the process of setting import tolerance is completed by the EPA.

Annexure – I

India Export of Farm products to USA

Quantity in MT, Value in US$ Mill

The information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Dr. D. Purandeswari in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures prompt requests for import tolerance and enforcement discretion in response to detained rice consignments. A detention of basmati rice consignments for alleged pesticide residue was resolved after U.S. FDA testing; India requested the U.S. EPA to examine a dossier to set an import tolerance for tricyclazole and asked the U.S. FDA to exercise enforcement discretion pending EPA action, alongside tabulated 2012-13 export data provided in a parliamentary written reply.