India, the world's largest rice exporter, primarily exports top-quality basmati rice to the Middle East, as well as non-basmati rice to African and Asian countries. To keep domestic prices stable, the country has occasionally restricted non-basmati rice exports.
"In the same period the previous fiscal, exports totaled 118.25 lakh tonnes. Despite restrictions on the export of some varieties of rice, overall exports have remained strong," as per Vijay Sethia, former president of the All India Exporters Association.
Basmati rice exports increased to 24.97 lakh tonnes during the April-October period of the 2022-23 fiscal year, up from 21.59 lakh tonnes the previous year. Non-basmati rice exports increased to 102 lakh tonnes from 96.66 lakh tonnes in the previous year, according to Sethia.
Basmati rice was primarily exported to traditional markets such as the United States, Europe, and Saudi Arabia, while non-basmati rice was primarily exported to African countries.
Iran, traditionally the largest buyer of Indian basmati rice, has been active in purchasing in recent months. Nearly two-thirds of India's basmati rice exports are to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
In September, the government prohibited the export of broken rice and imposed a 20% customs duty on non-basmati rice in order to increase domestic availability and limit price increases.
According to Sethia, the imposition of customs duty had no effect on non-basmati rice exports. Exports remained strong. Rice exports have been restricted by the government in order to keep prices under control as production is expected to fall.
According to the agriculture ministry's preliminary estimates, rice output will fall to 104.99 million tonnes in the kharif season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) from 111.76 million tonnes in the previous kharif season.
