ABU DHABI // For centuries, Arab and Persian traders on horseback set out from the peninsula to bring back that most prized Indian export, basmati rice.
Today, such is the appetite for biryani and pilau – cooked, of course, with only the most fragrant, long-grained rice – that the region is the world’s number one importer.
Soon packets of the “queen of rice”, as it is known, will bear the sticker: processed and polished in Abu Dhabi.
The capital’s Al Dahra Agriculture is planning to invest US$150 million (Dh550m) in building a local factory to process basmati rice.
The company hopes its mill, which is expected to open in 16 months’ time, will enable Abu Dhabi to become a rice hub for the rest of the Middle East.
It comes after signing a joint venture in October last year with Kohinoor Food, which owns one of the largest mills in India. Kohinoor will lend its expertise to the project. The mill will also store and distribute the rice and be based in Kizad, the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi.
The plant will initially focus on processing and polishing basmati rice and will look at incorporating other types of rice in the future.
“We are doing this for two reasons,” said Nael Khalil Saifan, the chief operating officer at Al Dahra, at the Global Forum of Innovation in Agriculture in the capital. “One for food security. We need to keep a minimum stock inside the country, we will have more than 60 silos. The other objective is to approach the Middle East market.”
Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are the world’s biggest importers of basmati rice, accounting for more than 90 per cent of global exports.
Basmati is one of the premium varieties of rice, grown mostly in northern India, including the Punjab region straddling India and Pakistan. More than 70 per cent of the world’s supply comes from India, and the rest from Pakistan. Kenya also produces a kind of basmati, while the US variety is called Texmati.
Basmati exports from India are about four million tonnes a year, while Pakistan exports close to a million tonnes. About three million of that overall total is exported to the Middle East.
The mill in Kizad will process 100,000 tonnes a year of basmati rice initially, of which 75,000 tonnes will be for the UAE.
The company will then gear up to export more to the rest of the region. “I think we can double production over the next five years,” said Mr Saifan.
thamid@thenational.ae
