Stories
India's Rice Industry Eyes Billion-Dollar Beyond-Grain Opportunities
- •India's rice industry is shifting focus from raw grain exports to value-added products like noodles, oil, protein, and industrial materials.
- •The Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC) 2026 will feature a session, "Beyond Raw Rice: The Next Billion-Dollar Opportunity," to identify key commercial prospects.
- •Global markets for rice-derived products are expanding, with rice noodles projected to reach $11 billion by 2030 and rice bran oil $6.3 billion by 2030.
- •Opportunities extend to specialized ingredients like rice protein (projected to reach $281.4 million by 2030) and industrial uses such as rice husk ash-based silica (projected to reach $1.41 billion by 2033).
- •The IREF-EY assessment at BIRC 2026 will identify products with the strongest commercial potential, target markets, and investment routes to maximize value from each tonne of rice.
Key Questions Answered
The conference will examine opportunities beyond raw rice exports, exploring value-added products like noodles, edible oil, protein, and industrial materials to identify the biggest commercial opportunities for India's rice industry.
Organized alongside an IREF-EY assessment, the conference will evaluate sectors such as rice-bran oil, rice protein, functional starches, rice-noodle markets, and industrial materials like rice-husk-ash-based silica to determine market demand, investment needs, and export potential.
Rice-derived materials extend into industrial sectors, with the global market for rice-husk-ash-based silica projected to grow significantly. For instance, Goodyear announced in 2025 that it was using silica derived from waste rice-husk ash in its European truck-racing tyres.
