The government on Friday lifted the ban on broken rice, which was imposed in September 2022. This was the last of restrictions on rice shipments.
According to a notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, broken rice exports have been put in the ‘free’ category’ .
The move could help reduce central pool stocks in India, the world’s biggest exporter, and enable African countries to secure the grain at lower prices, as well as support Asian animal feed and ethanol producers.
At present, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and agencies hold 36.9 million tonne (MT) of rice stocks, excluding 31 MT receivable from millers. The rice stock is against the buffer of 13.58 MT for April 1.
In FY24, India shipped rice worth $10.41 billion, a decline of 6.5% on year, as shipments were hampered because of restrictions that were imposed to improve domestic supplies.
Exporters say that rice exports in the entire FY25 may see an increase of 15%, because of a robust global demand, to cross a record $12 billion.
In September last year, the government removed most of the restrictions on basmati as well as non-basmati rice exports by removing minimum export price and export duties.
Rice exports during the April-January period of FY25 saw a sharp increase of over 22% to over $10 billion compared to $8.26 billion in the same period last fiscal following lifting of restrictions on rice exports last year.