LT Foods Ltd. announced the government’s decision to set a minimum export price of USD 1,200 per tonne for basmati rice on Monday. The company claimed in a regulatory filing that the price cap has no “impact on the exports for LT Foods Ltd as the company mostly export premium and aged rice in our own trusted brands i.e. DAAWAT and Royal, the export price of which is mostly over and above the said minimum export price limit.”
To prevent the potential “illegal” shipment of white non-basmati rice masquerading as premium basmati rice, the government has decided to prohibit basmati rice exports below USD 1,200 per tonne.
The commerce ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it had instructed the trade promotion agency APEDA not to register contracts for less than USD 1,200 per tonne. The government has suspended existing contracts worth less than USD 1,200 per tonne. To assess potential future actions, a committee will establish and report to the APEDA chairman.
Atul Garg, the managing director of basmati rice exporter GRM Overseas, stated, “The average price of basmati rice exports during the last five financial years is between USD 900 and USD 1,000 per tonnes”.
We implore the government to take into account lowering the USD 1,200 per tonne minimum export price for basmati rice, according to Garg.
The central government has been increasing domestic supplies to reduce rice retail prices.
It restricted non-basmati white rice last month while outlawing the export of broken rice in September of last year. Non-basmati par-boiled rice was subject to a 20% export tariff last week.
With these regulations, India has effectively put a stop to all non-basmati rice varieties.
In terms of pricing, India valued its total basmati rice exports at USD 4.8 billion for 2022–23, with a total volume of 45.6 lakh tonnes.
In the previous fiscal, non-basmati exports totalled 6.36 billion USD. It was 177.9 lakh tonnes in volume.