NEW DELHI: With stocks piling up, India may soon sell another 10 lakh tonne (lt) non-basmati rice to poor African nations, raising the total quantity of such exports to 20.5 lakh tonne. While the decision has been taken by the committee of secretaries (CoS), it will be executed by the ministry of external affairs, a commerce department official said.
The MEA will decide the timing of this additional export, the countries to which the rice would be exported and the quantity to be released. The CoS also decided to allow 20 lakh tonne wheat exports after the elections. “The notification will be issued soon after the counting is over on May 16,” the official said.
“The CoS has decided that the country can safely part with another 10 lakh tonne rice at the moment. The decision on how to go about it will be taken by the MEA. The commerce department will then act on the instructions,” said a commerce department official.
In January, the government allowed 55,000 tonne non-basmati to be exported to Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon. Earlier this month, it allowed another 10 lakh tonne to be exported to 21 African countries. All rice will be exported through governmentowned companies. “The next lot of rice exports, when allowed, will also be done through PSUs,” the official added. It is, however, too early to say which countries would be on the list.
“There are 55 African countries and some small economies like Fiji, to which India exports rice. The MEA will decide which of these countries should be supplied rice,” he added. With rice stocks crossing 21 million tonne and record production of 99.37 million tonne in 2008-09 season, India’s position is quite comfortable. “We can easily export some rice this year without fear of domestic prices going up,” the official said.
Source : The Economic Times