Govt approves 0.85 MT of broken rice to Senegal, Indonesia, Mali and Gambia

By Sandip Das

The government has approved exports of 0.85 million tonne (MT) of broken rice to Senegal, Indonesia, Mali and Gambia since the beginning of the current fiscal, an official with Directorate General of Foreign Trade said on Friday.

While 0.5 MT of broken rice was approved for shipment to Senegal, the volume of rice exports permitted for Indonesia was 0.2 MT, Mali (0.1 MT) and Gambia (50,000 tonne), he said.

Last month, 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 National Cooperative Exports Ltd.

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 countries.

In September 2022, India had banned broken rice exports and imposed a 20% export tax on white rice shipment.

The government has imposed a 20% export duty on parboiled rice. It also imposed a minimum export price (MEP) for basmati rice temporarily till October 15 to restrict “illegal shipment of white non-basmati rice in the garb of premium basmati rice”.

India has been the world’s largest exporter of rice since 2012, with more than 40% share in annual global trade of around 50 MT. Last fiscal, India exported a record 22 MT of rice to more than 100 countries.

Retail rice prices rose by 12.54% in August and had 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 this year from its surplus stock in the open market to cool down the prices.

On July 21, the government had approved 0.3 MT of wheat exports to Nepal.

India had imposed a ban on wheat shipment in May last year. However, the shipment was allowed on a case-to-case basis.

This article has been republished from The Financial Express