Centre cuts floor price of basmati exports to $950 a tonne
APEDA has been directed to register only those contracts meeting this value or more
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NEW DELHI: The government has reduced the floor price for basmati rice exports to $950 per tonne from $1,200 per tonne amid concerns that higher prices were hurting outward shipments.
In a communication to export promotion body APEDA, the Union Commerce Ministry has said “it has been decided to revise the price limit for registration of contract for export of basmati rice from $1,200 per tonne to $950 per tonne.”
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development authoriity (APEDA) has been directed to register only those contracts having value of $950 per tonne and above.
The government on August 27 decided not to allow exports of basmati rice below $1,200 per tonne to restrict possible “illegal” shipment of white non-basmati rice in the garb of premium basmati rice.
India’s total exports of basmati rice stood at $4.8 billion in 2022-23 in terms of price, while in volume terms it was at 45.6 lakh tonne.
Rice exporter associations have been demanding from the last two months to reduce this price, stating that India is losing its export market due to the tough price competition from neighbouring countries like Pakistan. They have been also arguing that India’s average export realisations in the last 2-3 financial years have been $800-900 per tonne.
On October 15, the food ministry had said the government is considering the industry’s demand to reduce the floor price.
Based on representations received from the associations that the high FOB (free on board) value is adversely affecting the export of basmati rice from India, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal had attended a consultative meet with the basmati rice exporters, the food ministry had said in a statement.
Seeking to control retail prices of rice, the central government has been taking several steps to boost domestic supply.
In September last year, it banned exports of broken rice, while in July this year, it imposed restrictions on non-basmati white rice. A 20 per cent export duty was also slapped on par-boiled non-basmati rice.
With these curbs, India has imposed restrictions on all varieties of non-basmati rice.
As per the Foreign Trade Policy, APEDA is mandated to register all contracts for the export of basmati rice and then it issues registration-cum-allocation certificate for the export of basmati rice.