Broken rice exports up 33% to 2.4 million tonnes in Apr-Sep FY23: Report

Exports of broken rice increased 33.37 per cent to 23.82 lakh tonne during April-September FY23 as against 17.86 lakh tonne in the year-ago period, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said there has been a sudden increase in demand for the Indian broken rice in the international market due to geo-political reasons.

"India's exports of broken rice have increased from 17.86 Lakh MT in 2021-22(April- September) to 23.82 Lakh MT in 2022-23 (April-September), registering a growth of 33.37 per cent," she said in a reply to the Lok Sabha.

The minister added that the export has increased about three times in the last four years from 12.21 lakh tonne in 2018-19 to 38.90 lakh tonne in 2021-22 in volume terms.

In value terms also, shipments rose from USD 369.58 million in 2018-19 to USD 1.13 billion in 2021-22.

Broken rice is mainly used for ethanol production and as poultry and cattle feed.

Citing the first advance estimates for 2022-23, released by Directorate of Economics and Statistics, she said the production of rice is estimated to be lower than the target fixed for the current year.

"Therefore, in order to ensure adequate availability of broken rice in the domestic market, the government has prohibited export of broken rice with effect from September 9, 2022," Patel said.

In a separate reply, she said there is no proposal at this stage to offer export subsidies to pulse traders.