1718 Basmati Rice

≈ 8.0 mm — 1121 length with better field consistency

1718 is the variety a buyer reaches for when 1121 length is wanted but 1121 pricing or supply consistency is not. Developed at Punjab Agricultural University as an improved selection out of the 1121 background and released in 2013, it delivers average milled length of roughly 8.0 mm — closing most of the gap to 1121's 8.30–8.40 mm while sitting well clear of the Pusa varieties at 7.60–7.90 mm. It carries the same aroma family and contracts on the same sheet: broken ≤ 1% or ≤ 2%, moisture ≤ 13%, variety purity ≥ 95%, ageing 12–24 months, crop year declared. The commercially important difference is agronomic rather than culinary — 1718 carries resistance to bacterial leaf blight, which 1121 does not, so the crop is less prone to the yield collapses that periodically tighten 1121 availability and spike its price mid-season.

That resistance is the real commercial argument. A packer running a year-round programme on 1121 alone is exposed to a variety with a known disease vulnerability and a price that moves accordingly; blending or substituting 1718 takes some of that risk out while giving up around 0.3–0.4 mm of grain length that most end customers will not notice on the plate. Buy 1718 for mid-tier Gulf and South Asian retail, food-service where the grain still needs to look long, and as the hedge line in a programme whose flagship is 1121. Where it is the wrong call is a premium pack that advertises a length figure, or a customer whose QC gauges every lot against an 8.30 mm floor — that specification only 1121 meets. CBIL contracts 1718 against SGS grading of average milled length, broken, moisture, admixture and crop year at load port, in 25 kg and 50 kg PP bags, container-load, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.