New Delhi: The Centre has eased the blanket ban on export of all non-basmati rice, with the Union Cabinet on Thursday, permitting shipments of premium varieties that are priced above $425 a tonne free-on-board (f.o.b.).
The imposition of a minimum export price (MEP), in place of the earlier October 9 decision to ban all non-basmati shipments, will pave the way for export of varieties such as Pusa-1121, Sharbati, Swarna Masuri, Ponni and Red Matta.
These varieties command prices from $550-600 (Ponni, Swarna Masuri and Matta) to $650-700 (Sharbati) and $1,350-1,400 (1121). Despite not being procured by the Government agencies, their categorisation as ‘non-basmati’ had resulted in a ban on shipments following the October 9 Cabinet decision.
The Government has withdrawn the ban on superior non-basmati rice exports of over $425 a tonne following complaints from farmer organisations and the State Government of a sharp drop in open market prices of paddy, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, told presspersons here. The ban was also giving competing nations such as Pakistan an upper hand in the rice export market, he added.
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