India has no plans to curb rice exports as local supplies surge

• India does not plan to curb rice exports as the world’s biggest exporter of the staple has sufficient stocks and local rates are lower than state-set support prices, trade and government sources said.
• “We have more than sufficient stocks of rice and there is no concern at all in terms of either prices or availability for exports and domestic requirements,” said a senior government official involved in the decision making.
• “At this stage, there is no consideration at all to prohibit rice exports,” said the source, who didn’t wish to be named in line with official rules.
• Rice exports from India, also the world’s second biggest consumer of the grain, jumped to a record 21.2 million tonnes in FY22 from 17.8 million tonnes in FY21.
• Rice prices are falling, even as exports rise, as India has massive stocks and local purchases by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) – the state stockpiler – are increasing, said B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.
• Milled and rice paddy stocks at FCI totalled 66.22 million tonnes against a target of 13.58 million tonnes. “There is no need to put any restriction on rice exports,” Rao said.
• “Wheat output and prices were affected due to the war in Ukraine, but … the Black Sea region is neither a major producer nor consumer of rice.”
• India’s rice export prices extended losses this week to touch USD350-USD354 a tonne, the lowest in more than five years. In the crop year to Jun 22, India’s rice output jumped to a record 129.66 million tonnes from 121.1 million tonnes the previous year.
• Higher output has forced FCI to buy more rice from domestic farmers, taking a record 80.4 million tonnes of rice paddy from growers so far in 2022 against 77 million tonnes over the same period last year.
• “FCI’s procurement is going up, and that is an indication that there’s no shortage, so there is no logic for any ban on rice exports,” Rao said.

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-has-no-plans-curb-rice-exports-local-supplies-surge-2022-05-26/