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The Indian Cabinet on Wednesday approved a plan to export of 1 million tonnes of non-basmati white rice to Indonesia through the National Cooperative Export Ltd (NCEL).

Announcing the decision, Union Agriculture Minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan said an agreement will be signed by the Indonesian government’s agency Bulog with India’s notified canalising agency NCEL.

Sources said that NCEL, which was the nodal agency to undertake export of non-Basmati rice to friendly countries under permit system when the shipments were banned, will source the rice from the open market and sell to Bulog under a price formula.

Not from buffer stock

Though there was some confusion initially regarding the source of rice to be exported, officials later clarified that there would be no export from the government-owned buffer stock.

Rice prices in the global market have firmed up marginally from mid-November after dropping over 10 per cent.

After India removed rice export curbs in, other countries such as Pakistan and Thailand cut prices by 10-15 per cent, exporters said. But, rates started rebounding from last week of November on good demand from the Philippines, where buyers are seeking the new crop. Even, far-eastern countries are buying good volume, said exporters adding global prices moved up by $10/tonne in the second fortnight of November.

Indian curbs

India had curbed rice exports from September 2022, when it banned shipments of broken rice and imposed a 20 per cent duty on white rice. In July 2023, it banned exports of white rice and imposed a 20 per cent duty on parboiled shipments. It also fixed $950/tonne as the minimum export price for basmati. But all curbs were removed in October 2024.

Despite weather woes, India produced 137.82 million tonnes (mt) of rice in 2023-24 and this year’s , kharif production has been estimated at 119.93 mt. Exports of non-Basmati rice was at 5.77 mt worth $2.79 billion during April-October of current fiscal, official data show.