Indian Rice Growers Fear Glut, Want Government To Lift Export Ban.

earing rising rice stockpiles in the country, Indian rice growers worry it would create a glut and urged the government to lift a two-year old ban on exports to protect cash-strapped farmers.

Existing stockpiles plus the prediction of good monsoon rain this season could spur better yields and may only dampen the domestic rice market, with excess stocks pushing down prices, say experts.

The 2008 global "food crisis" spooked by rising rice prices, forced India to ban exports of non-basmati rice, fearing it would destabilise food security in the country, where over a billion people rely on rice as a staple diet.

"It is time the export ban is lifted. There are enough grains and food stability.

"So, only super high quality rice should be permitted to be exported at minimum export price, to protect normal rice meant for the public," D.N. Pathak, executive director of the All India Rice Exporters Association told Bernama.

Indian meteorological experts forecast it would be a normal monsoon this year, arriving later this July, thus encouraging the rice industry to predict a bumper harvest.

India's rice buffer stock is said to be very much higher than the mandatory strategic reserve of two million tonnes.

In Andhra Pradesh, the nation's rice bowl, farmers are already burdened with a stockpile of nearly three million tonnes, forcing farmers to lose nearly RM600 million last season.

"There is a lot of production in Andhra Pradesh with higher yields now but no storage place. There is also lot of wastage and farmers are suffering.

"If the government lifts the ban, we can export at least two million tonnes, which would bring additional income to farmers," said Ramakrishnan Reddy, president of the Hyderabad-based Andhra Pradesh Rice Millers Association.

The Orissa-headquartered Central Rice Research Institute estimates Indian farmers could easily harvest 100 million tonnes this season (March 2011 to March 2012), compared to 94 million tonnes over the same period last year.

India is the second largest rice producer in the world after China.

Source : bernama.com