India on Friday reduced export duty on parboiled rice to 10% from 20% earlier, the government said in a notification, as inventories in the world’s biggest exporter of the grain surged and farmers are set to harvest a new crop in the coming weeks.
The reduction in export duty will lower India’s export prices, boost shipments, and force competing countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Myanmar to reduce their prices as well.
India had imposed a 20% duty on parboiled rice exports in 2023 after its crop was affected by below-normal rainfall.
Rice stocks at the Food Corporation of India on Sept. 1 stood at 32.3 million metric tons, 38.6% higher than last year, giving the government plenty of elbow room to relax rice export curbs.
Buoyed by copious monsoon rains, farmers have planted rice on 41.35 million hectares, up from 40.45 million hectares last year and 40.1 million hectares of the past five years of the average area under the staple.
