Trade Articles

The UPA government is firm on their decision for not slashing down the ban on non basmati rice export for next 3 months. The empowered group of ministers(EGOM) here in their meeting make out the statement for not lifting the export ban on rice and has decided to meet on 1st November, 2008 for taking the another call on partially lifting the ban on non basmati rice. The EGOM meeting, chaired by the external affairs minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, also included agricultural minister Mr. Sharad Pawar, commerce & industry minister Mr. Kamal Nath, finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram and planning commission deputy chairman Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The Union govt. said that ban on rice export would remain and any review will be taken only after the arrival of new rice crop. As then the kharif harvest will be known therefore, the government can easily decide that how much rice it could afford to export. But even if there would be bumper yield the government is in no mood to slash down the ban completely. As the non basmati price in the international arena is sailing at Rs 52 per kg therefore, if the government will lift the ban completely, there is a chance that more and more production would get diverted towards export which in turns less the quantity left for the domestic consumption. The Commerce Secretary Mr. G K Pillai said “Even if the ban is not fully lifted, we may export two to three million tonnes after November to some African countries." He said that "A bumper crop of 94 million tonnes of non-basmati rice is expected in November, of which six million tonnes would be surplus”.

To check the spiraling prices and skyrocketed inflation, which has reached close to the 12% mark, the ban on non basmati rice was imposed on 31st March this year. Ban on maize export was also imposed during this time period. In coming November meeting, review of ban on maize export would also be done along with the review of rice export. Mr. G K Pillai said "Till the new crop comes, whatever restrictions are there, they will stay in place...possibly by the end of November or so. After the rice crop we will know what is the position." Further he added that ''Prices of commodities remain a concern. It is unlikely that we will relax the ban on futures trade in these four commodities”. However rice exporters are demanding to curtail down the ban on rice export and suggest that the government can put a cap on the quantity of rice to be exported for ensuring sufficient availability in the domestic marketplace.

The nation has witnessed the massive production of 96.43mn tonnes in the 2007-08 season. As per the government projection, the wheat production, which is a rabi crop, has reached to the height of 78.4 mn tons. As per the official record, India's rice consumption for 2006-07 was 88.25 million tonnes. According to the fourth advance estimation for the 2007-08, rice production was 96.43 million tonnes. The total yield of India for 2007-08 has crossed the mark of 78.40 million tonnes in comparison of third advanced estimation, which was 76.78 million tonnes. In 1999-2000, the India's total wheat production was 74.25 million tonnes. The total wheat production in 1999-2005 was 74.25 million tonnes. Prices of non basmati rice have increased to a great manifold and presently it is hovering between Rs15-22 per kg. After the expiration of export ban period in November, the government is planning to export nearly 3 million tonnes of non basmati rice to the African nations.