New Delhi: India's rice exports could fall by 4-5 million tonnes this fiscal year due to imposition of ban on broken rice as well as export duty on non-basmati rice, except for parboiled grains, exporters said.
India, which commands 40 per cent share in the global rice trade, exported 21.23 million tonnes of rice in 2021-22 fiscal as against 17.78 million tonnes in the previous year. Before the COVID pandemic, the exports were 9.51 million tonnes in the 2019-20 fiscal.
During April-August period of the current financial year, the government data showed that the country has already exported 9.35 million tonnes as against 8.36 million tonnes in the year-ago period.
"The exports may fall to 16-17 million tonnes in this financial year because of ban on broken rice and 20 per cent export duty," All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) former president Vijay Setia said.
He said the country was exporting non-basmati rice for $380-400 per tonne, lower than the rate of shipments from other countries.
The price realisation is "expected to improve at par with our competitors" after these decisions, Setia said.
On Friday, food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey explained the rationale behind the ban on exports of broken rice.
There has been an "absolutely abnormal" rise in shipments of broken rice and the broken grains were also not available in sufficient quantity for animal feed as well as ethanol blending programme, Pandey had said.
"During April to August this fiscal, the export share of broken rice increased to 22.78 per cent as compared to the 1.34 per cent in the corresponding period of 2019-20," the secretary had said.
India exported 3.89 million tonnes of broken rice in 2021-22 fiscal and out of that China imported 1.58 million tonnes of broken rice last fiscal year.
Exports of broken rice stood at 2.06 million tonnes in 2020-21, just 2,70,000 tonnes in 2019-20 and 1.22 million tonnes in 2018-19.
In April-August period of this fiscal year, the export of broken rice increased to 2.13 million tonnes from 1.58 million tonnes in the year-ago period.
"Export policy of broken rice ...is amended from 'free' to 'prohibited'," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification dated September 8, 2022.
The notification comes into effect from Friday, September 9, 2022.
As per the DGFT notification, provisions under the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 regarding the transitional arrangement shall not be applicable to this notification. It added that during September 9-15, certain consignments of broken rice will be allowed to be exported.
The government has made no policy change in parboiled rice so that farmers continue to get good remunerative prices. There is neither a ban nor customs duty on exports of basmati rice.
Shipments of basmati rice fell to 3.94 million tonne in last fiscal from 4.63 million tonne in 2020-21. However, during April-August of this fiscal, the exports of premium basmati rice went up to 1.82 million tonnes as against nearly 1.7 million tonnes in the year-ago period.