India now plans to reduce broken percentage in non-basmati rice exports amid food inflation woes

livemint.com:

₹44.40 a kg, an increase of 13.10% on a year-on-year basis, according to consumer affairs ministry data as of Friday. Though food inflation in March eased slightly, inflation in rice remained significantly high at 12.7%, forcing the government to look for other ways to intervene in the market. The percentage of broken rice in parboiled rice as per a Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) notification is 15%.

“DFPD (department of food and public distribution) informed that the same parameter may not be maintained for export of parboiled rice. Therefore, it has been proposed that the percentage of broken percentage in parboiled rice may be reduced to 5% in the export consignments," the official told Mint. In the case of non-basmati white rice, the broken percentage is 25%.

“Quality specifications may be modified for export of non-basmati white rice, reducing broken percentage to 5%," the official added. Notably, the broken percentage of rice exports depends on the importing country's requirement. For example, African countries demand non-basmati white rice with 25% broken percentage.

In contrast, the US demands broken rice percentage of only 2-3%. In any case about 90% of exports of parboiled rice contain only 5% broken percentage. The less the broken percentage in rice the higher the price.

At present, the price of 5% broken non-basmati white rice is quoted at ₹35,000 per tonne while that of 25% is priced at ₹30,000 a tonne, spot traders said. “Reduction of broken percentage for exports will ensure the availability of broken rice in the domestic market for industrial uses, including for ethanol production, and may also help cool domestic prices of rice due to lesser exports," the official said. “Fixing the broken