Request to free white rice exports from ban

19-Sep-2024 07:01 PM

New Delhi. An exporter's organization has urged the Central Government to withdraw the ban on export of non-basmati white (raw) rice as soon as possible and make the export of sella rice duty free in view of the possibility of better domestic production.

The organization says that commercial export of white rice has been banned for more than a year and 20 percent export duty is applicable on sella rice.

The government took both these decisions with the aim of increasing the supply and availability of general category rice in the domestic sector and curbing the rise in prices.

Now the situation is quite normal and under control, while the next production of rice is also expected to reach a new record level.

According to the exporter organization, the right time has come to bring the status of rice exports to the level before July 2023.

There is a good demand for Indian rice in the international market and an opportunity should be given to take advantage of it.

The government itself has a huge stock of rice and there is no threat to internal food security. There may be a huge surplus production of rice in the 2024-25 season and if some part of it is exported,

it will not have any adverse effect on the domestic market. India had a record export of 222 lakh tonnes of rice in the financial year 2022-23, which declined to 157 lakh tonnes in 2023-24.

If the shipment of white rice is not allowed immediately, the total export of rice may decrease further in 2024-25. The first half of the current financial year is about to end.