Against the grain: The many pressures that are cooking up a rice crisis
Visuals of long queues and desperate struggles for bags of rice at grocery stores in the US did the rounds on news platforms a couple of months ago when India, the largest exporter of rice in the world, banned the export of non-basmati rice in July. Non-basmati white rice constitutes about 25% of total rice exported from the country.
India accounts for 40 per cent of global rice exports, but in the last few months, the country has prioritised domestic demand over global demands.
What is happening with rice?
The government last week said it is actively considering the review of the minimum export price of $1,200 per tonne of basmati rice. This is because the high price has been affecting rice exports, and rice export associations have been requesting that it be lowered to $850 per tonne.
In late August, the government made a decision to prevent the export of basmati rice for less than $1,200 per tonne.
This was done to stop any potential unauthorized exports of white non-basmati rice disguised as premium basmati rice.
In addition to imposing a complete ban on the export of non-basmati rice in July which constitutes about 25 per cent of total rice exported from the country, the government in August imposed a 20 per cent duty on the export of parboiled rice and extended it till March 31 next year. Parboiled rice is rice that has been partially boiled at the paddy stage, before milling.
