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India on Thursday banned “with immediate effect” the export of non-basmati white rice (semi-milled or whole-ground rice, whether polished or polished or not), by amending the commodity’s export policy from “free” to “prohibited”.
A notice to this effect has been issued by the Directorate for Foreign Trade (DGFT) of the Ministry of Commerce.
Explaining the reasons for the move, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said, “In order to ensure sufficient availability of non-basmati white rice in the Indian market and mitigate price hikes in the domestic market, the Government of India has amended the export policy for the above-mentioned variety from ‘Free with 20% export duty’ to ‘Prohibited’ with immediate effect.”
The domestic price of rice is witnessing an increasing trend. The ministry said in a statement that retail prices increased by 11.5% in a year and 3% over the past month.
“A 20% export duty was imposed on non-basmati white rice on 8.09.2022 to reduce the price as well as ensure its availability in the local market,” the statement said.
“However, the export of this variety increased from 33.66 LMT (Sep-March 2021-22) to 42.12 LMT (Sep-March 2022-23) even after imposing a 20% export duty,” she added.
According to the statement, “In the current 2023-2024 fiscal year (April-June), about 15.54 liters of this type of rice were exported compared to only 11.55 liters during the 2022-23 fiscal year (April-June), an increase of 35%. This sharp increase in exports can be attributed to higher international prices due to the geopolitical scenario, El Nino sentiment and severe weather conditions in other rice-producing countries, etc.”
Non-basmati white rice makes up about 25% of the country’s total rice exports. She added that banning the export of non-basmati white rice will lead to lower prices for consumers in the country.
However, there has been no change in the export policy of non-basmati rice (boiled rice) and basmati rice, which make up the bulk of rice exports. This will ensure that farmers continue to benefit from the favorable prices in the international market.”
The center’s move to ban the export of non-basmati white rice comes a month after state governments, including Karnataka, were not allowed to buy rice from the FCI under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS). Karnataka had ordered 2.2 lakh metric tons of rice for its scheme to distribute free 5 kg of rice per month to every beneficiary of the National Food Security Act 2013 in the state.
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