By IANS,
Chandigarh: Haryana will export basmati rice to US markets after an agreement between the state owned cooperative service and an American firm was signed here Wednesday.
The agreement was signed between president of the US-based Touch International Inclusive Balinder Singh and Haryana Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (HAFED) managing director Sudhir Rajpal.
HAFED is an apex co-operative service and marketing institution under the patronage and financial sponsorship of the government of Haryana.
“Touch International Inclusive have agreed to import 1,500 metric-tonnes of superior basmati rice valued approximately at Rs.13 crore (Rs.130 million) in the first year. The first consignment is likely to go there in September 2009,” S.S. Dhillon, administrator HAFED, told reporters.
As per the agreement, the HAFED would also provide necessary advertising and promotional support in the US market.
“We hope this agreement would go a long way in serving the interests of the basmati growers of Haryana on one hand and providing quality basmati rice to the consumers of the United States on the other,” Dhillon said.
Touch International Inclusive, which is based in New Jersey in the US, is the distributor of HAFED basmati rice and other of its products in America.
“HAFED is also already getting good export orders for its basmati rice from various countries like Australia, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the UAE,” Dhillon said.
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was present at the signing in ceremony.