New Delhi: China has rejected consignments of three domestic exporters of chilli and suspended the exporters citing the presence of methamidophos, a variety of chemical not approved for use for growers in India. The Hindu Business Line reports that the largest buyer of Indian chilli has claimed “excessive levels” of methamidophos, associated with nervous system disorders, in the shipments.Last month, China rejected 70 consignments of Indian rice of non-Basmati varieties exported by three other companies, who questioned the decision and accused it of indulging in a “trade war”. India is the world’s largest rice exporter as well as chilli exporter, and depends on China for a bulk of its imports. Importers had then said GMO rice was the reason, which Indian exporters had denied.“Recent trade-related concerns involving agricultural consignments of rice and chilli indicate that China is exercising heightened scrutiny over food safety parameters, including pesticide residues and GMO-related requirements,” Bhagirath Choudhary, Founder Director of South Asia Biotechnology Centre, told HBL.India’s shipments of chilli are primarily of the popular Teja variety that China buys in large quantities, ranging between 1.5 and 1.9 lakh tonnes annually. Overall chilli exports to China crossed 2.36 lt in 2024-25, HBL reports, forming a significant share of India’s overall chilli exports around the world, which were around 7.6 lt the same year.HBL also reported that the slowdown in exports of chilli to China might be on account of stock buildup in the neighbouring country, which made strong purchases while prices were low over the last two years. It said the rejected chilli shipments have not been returned but that their price was being renegotiated, which raises concerns over market access for Indian exporters.In previous decades, India repeatedly raised market access issues with China, with which it had a $37 billion trade deficit in 2010-11. That deficit has now ballooned to over $110 billion. India nevertheless opened doors to investment from China via amendments to Press Note 3. However, easier access to Chinese companies comes despite rapid past increases in imports to India – from a low of around $3 billion in 2003-04 to around $65.3 billion in 2019-20.Meanwhile, the rate of rejection of Indian spices (including chillies) zoomed to 20% (it was earlier 5%) from importers in Europe, forcing Indian growers to find alternative destinations over the last couple of years. “The rejection over pesticide contamination is adversely affecting the export volumes from India,” Ashwin K. Nayak, president of the Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders told the Times of India early last year.Growing preference for pesticide-free and organic spices was making the situation difficult for Indian growers of export-oriented spices. Spice exports also slowed after the Galwan clashes in 2020-21 with China and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic Times reported.In the non-food sector as well, Indian importers are likely to struggle to access raw goods such as critical minerals from China in the near future, as the country seeks to designate certain resources as critical for its own security and therefore not likely to be available for import in the usual quantities.