India extends ban on de-oiled rice bran export by four months

NEW DELHI: The central government has extended the ban on exports of de-oiled rice bran by another four months, according to an official notification put out by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) dated March 15.

The government had initially banned the export of the commodity derivative in July 2023 for four months and later extended it till March 2024.

The move was intended apparently to address inflation in milk prices. De-oiled rice bran, extracted from rice bran, is widely used as a nutrition product for feeding cattle, and other animals.

Edible oil industry body The Solvent Extractors Association Of India (SEA) recently requested the government to lift the ban imposed on the export of the commodity derivative.

In a letter to the central government, it argued that the total export of DORB constitutes only around 6 per cent of the production, and its restriction has "adversely affected processors and exporters along with paddy farmers, hindering them from realizing better returns on their produce."

According to the industry body, India, over the past 30 years, has successfully developed an export market for DORB, primarily serving Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and other Asian countries.

"An abrupt change in export policy has given opportunity to our competing countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh to capture Vietnam market for de-oiled rice bran and will be lost in no time," SEA argued in its letter.

"It is pertinent to mention here that this export restriction on DORB was imposed since July 2023 to ease the milk prices, however, we have seen almost no reduction in milk prices across the country since this ban. This is because the cost component of DORB in milk price is very nominal."