Reconsider ban on export of white rice: Rice Exporters Association urges Centre

A delegation of the association presented a memorandum to Union Minister Piyush Goyal pleading for relaxing the curbs to safeguard Indian exporters from the ramifications of international arbitration.

Hyderabad: The Rice Exporters Association, an organisation of Indian non-basmati rice exporters, on Wednesday urged the Centre to reconsider the ban on the export of white rice.

A delegation of the association, led by its president BV Krishna Rao met union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal in New Delhi and presented a memorandum pleading for relaxing the curbs to safeguard Indian exporters from the ramifications of international arbitration.

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The Minister was appraised that many of the exporters have letter of credit from the buyers and need to honour the contractual obligations. Otherwise they would be required to adhere to the norms of international arbitration. At present, Sona Masuri was part of the white rice facing the ban.

The ban on the white rice exports has affected shipment of Sona Masuri rice in a big way. The association has requested for the HSN (Harmonized System of Nomenclature) code differentiation for Sona Masuri to support the Indian diaspora who required rice urgently.

The code has been introduced for the systematic classification of goods all over the world. HSN code is a 6-digit uniform code that classifies 5000 products and is accepted worldwide. The association has called for steps for fixing the minimum export price (MEP) of US$ 1000 for Sona Masuri rice.

The association has also sought steps for restricting the quantum of rice export to one million tons per annum to accommodate the Indian Diaspora, which have been supporting India in all aspects. The association also insisted on steps to provide transitional arrangement for white rice (HSN code 10063010). Any further ban on rice exports can damage India’s image abroad and it would take a long time to restore the market. The Parboiled rice is consumed by 10 per cent of the population and the FCI was also not procuring the boiled rice in the custom milled operations, they said.

In this backdrop, India needs to continue the export of par boiled rice, insisted association President BV Krishna Rao and requested the government to reconsider the ban as the main consumers of rice are the African countries as well as NRIs. He wanted the government to consider the request once the rice prices were brought under control and normal monsoons helped in improving the rainfall.