New Delhi, Aug 27 (KNN) The government is considering to impose restrictions on exports of broken rice in the form of export tax, reported Financial express on Friday.

This decision is likely to come due to reduction in the paddy growth area because of lack of rainfall.

The domestic price of broken rice has increased by around Rs 3 per kg to Rs 25 a kg in the last couple months. 

According to trade estimates, broken rice shipment has a share of around 20 per cent in the total non-basmati rice export of 17 million tonne (MT) in 2021-22.

Speaking about the likely restrictions to be imposed on broken rice, V Krishna Rao, president of All India Rice Exporters Association, said “We prefer an export tax of 10-15 per cent on broken rice shipment instead of imposing an outright ban.”

India has been the world’s largest rice exporter in the last decade.The export earnings stood at USD 8.8 billion in 2020-21 and USD 9.6 billion in 2021-22.

According to the commerce ministry data, India’s value of rice exports rose 12 per cent to USD 2.6 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal compared to previous year. 

“We will sustain the momentum in rice exports in the current fiscal through shipment of quality rice,” M Angamuthu, chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), had said.

Broken rice is mostly exported to China, which uses it as livestock feed, while African countries such as Senegal import the grain for food.  (KNN Bureau)