Rice export curbs may not help beef up stock
Ironically, the government has had enough evidence that similar restrictions imposed last year, also with the core objective of shoring up domestic supply, were as porous as a sieve making a complete mockery of the enter exercise initiated by the ...
By Prabha Jagannathan, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Matta, the boiled red rice that is the mainstay of expat Kerala, is fast disappearing from shelves in marts the world over after the government imposed a ban on container shipments from the Kochi, Vizag, Chennai, Mangalore and Tuticorin ports.
Apart from Matta, exports of other highly-popular south Indian non-Basmati varieties, catering to expats in SE Asia, the US and the EU, such as Ponni apart from Sona Masoori have also been affected after the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) imposed export restrictions on rice.
Ironically, the government has had enough evidence that similar restrictions imposed last year, also with the core objective of shoring up domestic supply, were as porous as a sieve making a complete mockery of the enter exercise initiated by the DGFT and the commerce ministry.
According to sources, an internal study by the Kolkata-based DGCIS up to February 2008 has thrown up the disclosure that a whopping 53.5% of the rice exported in the year after the October 10 ban on exports was priced well below the MEP range of $500/tonne.
That was around 4.3 lakh tonnes (out of a total above MEP priced rice of almost 8 lakh tonnes exported in the year) compared to around 3.65 lakh tonnes of rice exports above the MEP.
In all, in just the period between October 10, 2007 and end February 2008, the country exported 1.15 million tonnes (11 lakh) of rice. In that short one-month period between the time the export ban was imposed and the MEP restrictions were yet to be announced, exporters managed to ship out 32.2% of all the rice exported in the year.
Apart from Matta, exports of other highly-popular south Indian non-Basmati varieties, catering to expats in SE Asia, the US and the EU, such as Ponni apart from Sona Masoori have also been affected after the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) imposed export restrictions on rice.
Ironically, the government has had enough evidence that similar restrictions imposed last year, also with the core objective of shoring up domestic supply, were as porous as a sieve making a complete mockery of the enter exercise initiated by the DGFT and the commerce ministry.
According to sources, an internal study by the Kolkata-based DGCIS up to February 2008 has thrown up the disclosure that a whopping 53.5% of the rice exported in the year after the October 10 ban on exports was priced well below the MEP range of $500/tonne.
That was around 4.3 lakh tonnes (out of a total above MEP priced rice of almost 8 lakh tonnes exported in the year) compared to around 3.65 lakh tonnes of rice exports above the MEP.
In all, in just the period between October 10, 2007 and end February 2008, the country exported 1.15 million tonnes (11 lakh) of rice. In that short one-month period between the time the export ban was imposed and the MEP restrictions were yet to be announced, exporters managed to ship out 32.2% of all the rice exported in the year.
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