China Bars Three More Indian Rice Exporters Over GMO Claims
19 September 2026, New Delhi: China revoked the export registrations of three more Indian rice exporters on September 17, bringing to ten the total number of Indian firms now barred from shipping to the Chinese market over allegations that their rice contains genetically modified material, a claim Indian authorities and exporters continue to dispute.
The newly affected companies are Sarla Foods, based in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh; Pattabhi Agro Foods, also based in Andhra Pradesh; and Om India Trading Limited, based in New Delhi, according to reporting confirmed by an Indian financial daily. They join an earlier group of exporters, including Shriram Food Industry of Nagpur, Spone Enterprises of Raipur and NM Foodimpex of Haryana, whose licenses were first suspended in April, with the list of banned firms growing steadily through the year as China’s customs authority has expanded its scrutiny of Indian rice shipments.
China’s stated justification is the detection of genetically modified organisms in tested consignments. India’s position has remained consistent throughout the dispute: the country has no commercially approved genetically modified food crop, with Bt cotton, a fiber crop rather than a food crop, standing as the only GM crop cleared for cultivation. India’s food safety authority has tested rejected shipments and found no GMO presence, and exporters say the same rejected batches have passed quality checks without issue when sold to other destinations, a discrepancy that has fueled suspicion in New Delhi that the rejections are less about food safety than trade strategy.
A dispute that has steadily widened
The standoff has escalated in stages since the spring. By late May, China had rejected more than 70 non-basmati rice consignments, and the number of exporters with suspended registrations climbed from three to seven by August before reaching ten this month. Industry bodies, including exporter federations, argue that China is applying GMO testing unevenly, pointing out that rice imports from Vietnam, Myanmar and Pakistan have not faced comparable scrutiny despite those countries also being non-GMO rice producers, a pattern traders describe as a non-tariff barrier rather than a genuine biosecurity concern. Some industry observers have suggested Beijing may be using the rejections, intentionally or not, to manage its own domestic rice stockpiles, though this remains speculation rather than a confirmed motive.
The financial toll on exporters is significant even before accounting for lost contracts. Industry figures cited in Indian trade press put the cost of shipping a rejected consignment back from China at 2,500 to 4,500 dollars, against an original outbound freight cost of around 250 dollars, a ratio that can turn a routine trade rejection into a serious loss for a mid-sized exporting firm.
In response to the mounting rejections, India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority introduced mandatory GMO testing for every rice consignment bound for China starting June 9, requiring exporters to use government-approved processing mills and accredited testing laboratories before shipment. Exporters had asked for a grace period to transition contracted shipments under the new rules, but the tightened protocol has not stopped the pace of registration revocations, suggesting the dispute runs deeper than documentation gaps alone.
Ripple effects beyond the bilateral relationship
India is the world’s largest rice exporter, and China is one of the larger destination markets for its non-basmati grades, so a sustained disruption in this trade lane carries weight beyond the ten affected companies. Exporters are already looking to redirect volumes toward African and Middle Eastern buyers, a shift that could tighten supply and firm prices in those markets even as it does little to resolve the underlying dispute with Beijing.
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