Resumption of broken rice exports to boost growth in west Africa, Indonesia markets
By Sandip Das
The government’s move to lift the ban on broken rice exports — the last of the restrictions on the shipments of the grain — is likely to aid market expansion in west African countries, including Gambia, Benin and Senegal, and Indonesia in the next fiscal, according to exporters.
They said that prior to the ban, which was imposed in September 2022, India used to ship 1-2 million tonne (MT) annually. Since then, it had ceded the market to Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan.
“We will be able to restore our export competitiveness in 100% broken rice exports over the next couple of months,” BV Krishna Rao, president of Rice Exporters’ Association, told FE.
The move to lift restrictions on broken rice exports could help reduce central pool stocks in India, the world’s biggest exporter, and enable African countries to secure the grain at lower prices as well as support Asian animal feed and ethanol producers.
The export restriction was imposed after the Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupted the global supply chain. However, the government allowed the shipments to needy countries on a request basis such as Gambia, Benin, Senegal and Indonesia.
In FY24, India exported broken rice valued at $194 million. The value of exports of broken rice was $983 million in 2022-23 and $1.13 billion in 2021-22.
Stating that the government has now lifted all the restrictions on rice exports, which would boost shipments, Ranjit Singh Jossan, MD at Jossan Grains, a Punjab-based exporter of rice, said the ban on shipments had led to a sharp decline in prices, severely impacting the industry.
In September last year, the government removed export duties and minimum export prices on non-basmati and basmati rice exports imposed in 2023.
At present, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other agencies hold 36.9 million tonne (MT) of rice stocks, excluding 31 MT receivable from millers. The rice stock is against the buffer of 13.58 MT for April 1.
In FY24, India shipped rice worth $10.41 billion, a decline of 6.5% on year, as shipments were hampered because of restrictions that were imposed to improve domestic supplies.
Exporters say that rice exports in entire FY25 may see an increase of 15% to cross record $12 billion because of robust global demand.
Rice exports during the April-January period of FY25 saw a sharp increase of over 22% to over $10 billion compared to $8.26 billion in the same period last fiscal following lifting of restrictions on rice exports last year.
Meanwhile, the government on Monday extended a rule that permits non-basmati and basmati rice exports to European countries with the exception of the UK, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland without a certificate from inspection agencies for six months.
This article has been republished from The Financial Express.