India has now said it would allow the shipment overseas
of cargoes of white and brown rice that were backed by letters of credit issued
before September 9th.
On September 8th India, the world’s biggest
exporter of rice, exacerbated the global shortage of staple commodities when it
banned exports of broken rice and imposed a 20% duty on exports of various
grades. The move was an attempt to boost domestic supply and keep down local
prices after below-average monsoon rainfall curtailed planting.
The suddenness of the move trapped nearly 1m tonnes of
rice either at ports already in transit.
BV Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters
Association, said that it was “ a big relief, which we have been asking for the
last few weeks”.
The government also said in its notice issued late
yesterday that it would allow 600,000 tonnes of unmilled rice to be exported to
Nepal, which traditionally relies on India to fulfil its food grains
requirements.
India accounts for more than 40% of global rice shipments.
