New Delhi, Jul 1 (KNN) India's rice exports have seen a significant downturn in the first quarter of the current financial year, falling by nearly 34 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes.

This decline comes in the wake of several government measures aimed at safeguarding domestic food security and managing inflation.

The Indian government has implemented a series of export restrictions, including a ban on non-basmati white rice and broken rice exports, as well as imposing a 20 per cent tariff on parboiled rice.

These measures have had a pronounced impact on export volumes. Non-basmati white rice exports plummeted by 78 per cent to approximately 300,000 tonnes, while broken rice exports decreased by 8 per cent to 300,000 tonnes. Parboiled rice shipments also fell by 11 per cent to 1.5 million tonnes.

The restrictions were introduced in response to concerns over domestic food security, particularly in light of potential El Niño-related disruptions to rainfall patterns and their impact on crop yields.

Despite these measures, basmati rice exports have shown resilience, increasing by 16 per cent to 1.1 million tonnes in the April-June period.

India's position as the world's largest rice exporter, previously contributing about 40 per cent to global trade, has been affected by these policy changes.

The country exported a total of 15.7 million tonnes of rice in FY24, down from 21.8 million tonnes in FY23.

The export curbs have drawn criticism from the international community, particularly at recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) meetings.

The United States has expressed concern and called for India to end these measures, citing WTO obligations.

In response to global food security concerns, India has made exceptions to allow limited exports of banned rice varieties to certain countries on a government-to-government basis.

This move has been seen as an attempt to balance domestic needs with sensitivity to global market pressures.

(KNN Bureau)