Centre to ban basmati rice exports under $1200 per tonne

New Delhi: The Central government on Sunday announced its decision to ban exports of basmati rice below $1,200 (Rs 99,680) per tonne in an effort to restrict the illegal shipment of white non-basmati rice in the garb of premium basmati rice.

The Commerce Ministry said in a statement that it has directed the trade promotion body Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) not to register contracts under $1,200 per tonne. The existing contracts with a value of below $1,200 have been suspended.

A committee under the chairman of APEDA will be set up to evaluate future courses of action.

Earlier, India had banned the export of non-basmati white rice. "The government has received credible field reports regarding misclassification and illegal export of non-basmati white rice, export of which has been prohibited with effect from 20 July 2023. It has been reported that non-basmati white rice is being exported under the HS codes of parboiled rice and basmati rice," the statement read.

As the APEDA is responsible for the regulation of the export of basmati rice and already has a web-based system in place for the purpose, the government has issued instructions to APEDA to introduce additional safeguards to prevent the possible illegal exports of white non-basmati rice in the garb of basmati rice.

The statement also said that it has been noted that there has been a large variation in the contract price of basmati being exported with the lowest contract price being $359 in the backdrop of an average export price of $1214 during the current month.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within a period of one month, after which a decision on lower price exports of Basmati planned by the industry can be taken appropriately, the statement said.

With inputs from IANS