More export of non-basmati rice may be allowed to prevent a storage crisis when summer crops start flooding the market by October.
The food ministry, whose recommendation is crucial to grain exports, is in favour of more non-basmati rice shipments, as the country is expecting a record harvest of grain for a second straight year, an official source said. The commerce and the agriculture ministries, too, have expressed their willingness for more non-basmati rice exports than the 1.15 million tonne already approved, he added.
An empowered group of ministers on food, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, will decide on the issue.?We have adequate grain stocks for domestic requirement even if the food security Bill is implemented. Also, it would be difficult to store another bumper crop in 2011-12 (crop year through June 2012), especially in major producing states like Punjab and Haryana, although we are taking enough measures to increase storage space. So we will favour some more exports,? said the official.
India, the world?s second-largest rice grower, allowed non-basmati rice exports in limited quantities this year after maintaining a ban since April 2008 to keep domestic supplies steady.
The government allowed exports of 1,50,000 tonne of three premium non-basmati varieties with a floor price of $850/tonne in February, which would now be lowered to $600/tonne, and another one million tonne last month with a floor price of $400/tonne.
But last month?s decision to allow exports has been put on hold after the Delhi High Court, responding to the petitions of some rice exporters, asked the government not to allocate the shipment quota till the next date of hearing. The court will hear the case on September 7. The government is likely to decide on allowing fresh exports after the court delivers its verdict.
The country expects to meet its record rice output target of 102 million tonne in 2011-12, agriculture secretary PK Basu said earlier this month, which would further put pressure on the government?s almost-choked warehouses if exports are not allowed.
The government?s rice and wheat stocks more than doubled its requirements for various welfare programs to 61.27 million tonne as of August 1, leading to mounds of grains being stored in the open under tarpaulin for a second straight year as it has a covered storage capacity of around 43 million tonne.
The government needs more than 60 million tonne of grains a year to implement the proposed food security bill, which aims to widen its subsidized grain sales to the poor.
The government plans to add around 9 million tonne of storage space in key grain-bowl states of Punjab and Haryana, but that would come up only over a period of two years.
Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said earlier this month that the country can easily export another one million tonne of non-basmati rice over and above the approved quantity, although the ministry is yet to give a precise assessment. Pawar had said it?s wise to export grains even though global prices are not very lucrative because domestic storage, too, involves huge cost.