The first consignment of non-basmati rice (white rice 5% broken) of 100 tonnes is to be shipped to China from Nagpur tomorrow. The consignment will be received by China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) which is one of China's state-owned food processing holding companies. After concerted efforts of the Government of India, 19 rice mills and processing units have been registered for export of non-basmati rice from India to China.

The protocol between General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China and the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare of the Republic of India on phyto-sanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China was signed on June 9, 2018 at Qingdao, China, during the visit of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. This amended the earlier protocol on phyto-sanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include the export of non-basmati varieties of rice from India.

Phytosanitary protocol expansion allows conditional export of non basmati rice to China after registration and certification of mills. The amended phytosanitary protocol between China's customs authority and India's agriculture department extends export approval to non basmati rice, establishing inspection, certification and registration requirements for eligible Indian mills; nineteen processors were registered and a commercial consignment has been arranged for delivery to a Chinese state food purchaser, creating conditional market access for registered exporters under the protocol.