Govt may consider easing ban on rice exports

"I do not think there is any proposal to relax anything now. If anything, we will see after the rice crop is also available," Pillai said when asked whether the government is considering lifting the ban on exports of non-basmati.     

As a part of measures to control inflation, that has since touched 8.75 per cent, the government had banned export of non-basmati rice. India had received requests from several African countries to allow shipments of the grain to meet their domestic requirements.     

"If we have a production of 94 million tonne, we may have 3-4 million tonne of surplus rice, which would then be available for exports," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.     

As per the third advance estimate, rice production is estimated at 95.68 million tonne in 2007-08 crop year.     

Pillai noted that the stock position is comfortable in the case of wheat as government has procured record foodgrain for its buffer stock.     

"We are quite comfortable in the wheat front. Harvest has been good. If the rice harvest in the coming November is a good crop we will be quite comfortable both in rice and wheat," he said.     

Pillai also ruled out any import of wheat this year. India had imported 73 lakh tonne of wheat during the last two years.     

When asked about putting restrictions on maize exports, he said, "There is no move to ban exports. There was some proposal to whether this should be considered. But that now requires more detailed examinations by the Department of Consumer Affairs."