Southern cos seek nod to export premium rice varieties

NEW DELHI: Rice exporters from southern India are putting pressure on the government to allow exports of the premium non-basmati variety grown by them to all markets.

In a representation to the commerce department, exporters have said that premium varieties, Ponni and Sona Masuri, like basmati, should be allowed to be sold overseas. The issue is likely to be taken up by the empowered group of ministers on food.

“Rice exporters from the south have said that they should not be discriminated against,” a commerce department official said. While basmati, which is grown in northern India, is allowed to be exported subject to a minimum export price (MEP), no other rice variety is allowed to be shipped overseas.

“The southern exporters have said that the government’s north bias should go and they, too, should be allowed to export their premium varieties,” the official said.

The government had placed a ban on non-basmati rice exports about two years back fearing a shortage in the domestic market. With prices of rice now stable and stocks at comfortable levels, the official said there might be a case for opening up exports of premium non-basmati rice.