No more Sona Masoori Rice from India????

Hi friends,

When we went to our Indian stores this weekend,we were told that ,Sona Masoori rice will not be permitted to USA anymore.Reason is unknown.So now they are selling the left over stock @ $15 per a bag of rice(20 lb bag).Earlier it was 9.99 per 20 lb bag.Is this true???Did anyone come across this???

vaishnavi

Hi Vaishanavi,

I saw the notice in my local grocery too. All Non Basmati rice exports have been banned ( that means no Sona Masori, Ponni, Idli rice etc etc....) Also They said that Wheat and wheat products ( read chakki fresh atta) have been banned for one year. I think this has to do with the short supply in India.

Will let you know if i get any more info.

Vandhana

That is terrible news ladies!! I am going to check our stores today - and buy some if it is reasonable!! I guess the restaurants will suffer too!!

Yes, I saw this notice at grocery stores in the bay area too. Jasmine rice from thailand is a good alternative. Apart from regular white rice, I use it for kichdi, dosas, kheer etc and it is quite good.

Mythraeyi

Thanx for sharing the shocking news. I too will check with the local Indian stores and buy it if the price is reasonable.

vara

Thanks for posting this. I also can and go check if there is any here. My Sams club carries a rice that is close to this one. and incredibly cheap.

U Mean To Say That All U Indians Abroad Depend On The Rice That Is Being Exported From India, Us Does Not Harvest Any, Or Is It Not Suitable For Your Consumption, Or They Don't Prefer Rice Cultivation, Pl Do Explain Why This Phenomenon. Wondered What Would Happen If India Were To Come Up With Something Like This, If We Had To Depend On The Outer Land For Our Basic Food...sunkan

Dear Sundari,

US does cultivate rice. What we get here is the Long grain variety, similar to basmati but not with the familiar basmati aroma. It is quite good, but then we Indians love the Sona Masoori and Ponni varieties since we feel the texture is better. Believe me, the Sona masoori and POnni and have started to come to US only around 7 to 8 yrs back. Before that it was all Enriched long grain rice and the jasmine rice ( which is imported from thailand). Of course if we go to the chinese stores, we get about 10 plus varities of sticky rice, glutinious rice etc etc.....

That being said, ladies, please do try the enriched Long grain rice. As AC had said Costco or Sams club carries it at very reasonable prices.
And yes idlis and dosas come out nice with that too.

Vandhana

After reading the news about the rice, I went from work straight to the Indian store - they had no notice about the shortage, etc - so I bought a bag of Sona Masoori and the Idly rice just to be safe -maybe the news has not yet caught up to the midwest?? Dont know - but I stocked up on one extra bag! thanks for the heads up ladies!!

Hi ladies

thank u very much for the posts...

ya i too .... when i went to the indian shop day befor yesterday they said there is no stock of sona masori, but the shop keeper din say anything about this fact that there wont be sona masoori rice from india???!!! its very shocking....(but we got it in some other indian shop)

As am very new to US dont knw about US cultivation of rice. And also thank ylou verymuch for the information that costco sells the long grain rice....can anyone pl let me where in costco i.e. in which division we can get this long grain rice ?

warm regards