Please register to access this content.
To continue viewing the content you love, please sign in or create a new account
Dismiss
This content is for our paying subscribers only

Business Markets

India eases export restrictions on non-basmati white rice

The government has also reduced the export duty on parboiled rice to 10 per cent



The revenue department also reduced export duty on parboiled rice, husked (brown rice), and rice in the husk (paddy or rough) to 10% from 20 per cent, the notification said
Image Credit: Shutterstock

New Delhi: India loosened restrictions on some rice exports, a move that may ease global prices and signal a shift in domestic agricultural policies following the recent national elections.

Get exclusive content with Gulf News WhatsApp channel

The government cut the tax on parboiled rice shipments to 10 per cent from 20 per cent, according to a notification from the finance ministry.

The world's top exporter had started its curbs in 2022 in an effort to ensure domestic food security and tame inflation. That caused the Asian benchmark price to climb to the highest since 2008 and forced major consumers to seek supplies from other countries. The staple is vital to diets of billions of people across the planet.

While the move was largely successful in stabilizing local prices, US Department of Agriculture data show that India is now saddled with record stockpiles. The latest policy moves could help ease that glut and cut import costs for countries such as Indonesia and Senegal.

Advertisement

Rice exports from the South Asian nation fell almost 25 per cent from a year earlier to 5.26 million tons in the first four months of the fiscal year that started on April 1, according to government data.

Indian farmers have started harvesting monsoon-sown rice crops following good rainfall. Plantings have been higher than a year earlier.

The government also set an export duty of 10 per cent on the unmilled variety, according to the notification published on Friday. Overseas shipments of semi-milled or wholly-milled rice will not attract any levy, it said.

Advertisement