Welcome Decision on Relaxing Rice Exports

24-Oct-2024 07:33 PM

New Delhi. The Central Government has gradually abolished all the controls, restrictions and duties imposed on Basmati and non-Basmati rice and the same situation has been restored in this matter which was prevalent before July 2023.

One special thing under this is that the export duty imposed on white (raw) and sella rice under the non-Basmati category has also been abolished. Similarly, the minimum export price (MEP) fixed at the rate of $ 950 per tonne for Basmati rice and $ 490 per tonne for non-Basmati white rice has also been withdrawn. The export duty on sella rice was first reduced from 20 percent to 10 percent and later it was also removed.

Welcoming the above decisions of the government, Rajiv Kumar, Executive Director,  The Rice Exporters Association (TREA), has said that now only 100 per cent of the export of broken rice is banned and in view of the better situation of supply and availability in the domestic sector and stability in prices,

the government should consider opening the export of this broken rice completely. It is known that the commercial export of broken rice has been banned since September 2022, whereas before that its annual shipment was 30-35 lakh tonnes.

Many other African countries including Senegal prefer broken rice more because it is relatively cheaper. Before the trade ban was imposed, countries like Vietnam and China were also importing broken rice in large quantities.

In the year 2021-22, when a record export of about 220 lakh tonnes of rice was made from India, the contribution of Basmati in it was 45 lakh tonnes and that of non-Basmati was close to 175 lakh tonnes, which also included the shipment of 30 lakh tonnes of broken rice.

Expressing hope that India will once again have a robust rice export, AREA Executive Director Rajeev Kumar said exporters will have no problem in increasing shipments as everything is back to normal on the export front.