NEW DELHI, INDIA — With government granaries currently holding more than 57.82 million tonnes of milled and paddy rice, more than quadruple a target of 13.54 million tonnes, India does not have plans to restrict exports, Reuters reported, citing a food ministry official.
“We have more than sufficient stocks of rice, so there is no plan to consider this,” Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told Reuters on June 13.
India is the world’s largest rice exporter, and its decision to ban wheat exports on May 14 to cope with lower-than-anticipated production had sown concern that rice exports also could be curbed. India exports rice to more than 150 countries, and is also the second largest consumer, behind only China.
India’s rice exports reached a record 21.5 million tonnes in marketing year 2021-22, more than the combined shipments of the world's next four biggest exporters of the grain — Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States.
In its June 8 update, the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture projected India will export 22 million tonnes of rice in 2022-23 on 130 million tonnes of production, a slight increase from 129.5 million tonnes in 2021-22.
