The central government has banned the export of non-basmati rice. A notification has been issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade regarding this. It states that until further orders export will be allowed only for deals which have already been struck. Exporters have letters of credit. Apart from this, if the government wants It can take a decide on exporting to poor countries on the demand of their government.
The industry has criticised the ban:
Vijay Setia, former president of All India Rice Exporters Association, says this step will not only affect rice exporters but also farmers, because if rice is not exported they will also not get the right price for their crops
India is the largest exporter of rice in the world. In the rice export market, <Alpha 5 in> about 40 percent is exported from India. More than 150 countries of the world buy rice from India. And non-basmati rice accounts for the majority of the rice exported from India. About 223 lakh tonnes of rice was exported during 2022-23, in which about 178 lakh tonnes was non-basmati rice.
In such a situation, the ban imposed on the export of rice from India could cause food crisis all over the world.
Paddy cultivation in the country has lagged behind this year due to the poor balance of monsoon, due to which the prices of rice are rising. As of July 14, rice acerage was lower by 8 lakh hectares
The total acreage for rice has been 123 lakh hectares. Due to lagging acreage of paddy, there may be an impact on the yield which may further increase the prices of rice. Keeping this in mind, the government has banned the export of non-basmati rice.