Posted on October, 16, 2023 at 06:26 am
The government has approved exports of 1.34 million tonne (MT) of non-basmati white rice to seven countries from Asia and Africa including Philippines, Malaysia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nepal through National Cooperative Export Ltd (NCEL).
The food ministry following a meeting of the inter-ministerial committee on review of prices and availability of essential commodities on Friday recommended exports of white rice to the commerce ministry.
On July 20, while the government banned shipment of white rice to boost domestic supplies, the exports are allowed to meet the food security needs of the developing countries through a government to government (G2G) route.
The volume of non-basmati rice exports approved to countries – Philippines (0.29 MT), Cameroon (0.19 MT), Malaysia (0.17 MT), Ivory Coast (0.14 MT), republic of Guinea (0.14 MT), Nepal (95,000 tonne) and Seychelles (800 tonne).
Last month, the government approved exports of 75,000 tone of non-basmati rice to the United Arab Emirates through NCEL.
In August, the government approved exports of 0.14 MT of white rice to Bhutan (79,000 tonne), Singapore (50,000 tonne) and Mauritius (14000 tonne) through the NCEL.
Philippine, one of the world’s largest rice importers and usually source grain from neighbouring Vietnam, in July had envisaged interest in sourcing white rice from India.
A senior food ministry official told FE that the government is monitoring the rice harvest for the current kharif season and a decision to ease export relaxation on the varieties of rice would be considered only by next year.
Meanwhile, the government on Friday extended the 20% export duty on parboiled rice till March 31, 2024. The duty on shipment of parboiled rice was initially announced in August.
The extension of export duty on parboiled rice is aimed at improving domestic supplies and discouraging shipment.
In 2022-23, India exported nearly 7.5 MT of parboiled rice mostly to sub-Saharan Africa.
In September 2022, India had banned broken rice exports.
Retail rice prices rose by 11.9% in September, a marginally lower from the previous month. Rice inflation has been rising in double digits since the beginning of the year.
The Food Corporation of India is aiming to sell 2.5 MT of rice by the end of the year from its surplus stock in the open market to cool down the prices. The series of measures to restrict rice exports aimed at improving domestic supplies.
India has been the world’s largest exporter of rice over the last decade with more than 40% share in annual global rice trade of 55 MT.
In FY23, India exported a record 17.78 MT of non-basmati rice worth of $ 6.35 billion.
During the April-August period of the current fiscal, the country has exported 6.45 MT of non-basmati rice, a decline of 15% from the same period previous fiscal.
According to the US department of agriculture forecast in September, India rice exports is projected to decline to 17.5 MT in the current fiscal from a record 22 MT in FY23 mainly because of restriction in exports and lower production prospects.
Source: Financial Express