Parul
The government on Sunday said that it has decided not to allow exports of basmati rice below US$ 1,200 per tonne to restrict possible “illegal” shipment of white non-basmati rice in the garb of premium basmati rice.
In a statement, the commerce ministry said it had directed trade promotion body APEDA not to register contracts below US$ 1,200 per tonne. Existing contracts below US$ 1,200 per tonne have been kept in abeyance.
A committee under the chairman of APEDA will be set up to evaluate future courses of action. India banned the export of non-basmati white rice on July 20 this year.
The statement read, “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.”
As the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (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.
It said: “Contracts for Basmati exports with the value of US$ 1,200 per MT only and above should be registered for the issue of Registration – cum – Allocation Certificate (RCAC).”
“Contracts with the value of below US$ 1,200 per MT may be kept in abeyance and may be evaluated by a committee to be set up by the Chairman, APEDA, for understanding the variation in prices and use of this route for export of non-Basmati white rice,” it said.
It also said that it has been noted that there has been large variation in the contract price of Basmati being exported with the lowest contract price being $359 per MT in the backdrop of an average export price of $1214 per MT during the current month.
