India, the world's largest rice supplier, may extend an export duty on parboiled rice as part of efforts to reduce food inflation ahead of national elections, a move that could limit global supplies and send prices to new peaks, Bloomberg reports, UNN writes.
Details
According to people familiar with the matter, the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will run for a third term in elections to be held in the first half of this year, is considering keeping the export duty at 20%. There has been no proposal to ban the export of parboiled rice, the sources said. The duty is currently set to expire on March 31.
Any such move could boost benchmark Asian rice prices, which have been hovering near a 15-year high since India began restricting sales of key varieties in 2023. This would be bad news for some countries in West Africa and the Middle East that rely on this South Asian country for most of their staple food needs, the publication points out.
Addendum
According to the government, total rice exports from India fell by 29% from a year earlier to 12.3 million tons between April 1 and January 21. Shipments of steamed rice during this period fell by 6.5% to 5.8 million tons.
Parboiled rice, which accounted for about 30% of India's total exports before the restrictions were imposed, is the result of a process that involves partially boiling raw rice before milling to increase its nutritional value and change the texture of cooked rice. In 2022-2023, the South Asian country's share of global rice trade was about 40%.