India's April-December rice exports drop 10 percent, pulses surge

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's rice exports between April and December dropped 10.2 percent from a year earlier to 8.46 million tonnes, as leading buyer Bangladesh trimmed purchases due to a bumper local harvest, a government body said.

The country's buffalo meat exports during the period slumped 13.3 percent from a year-ago period to 928,024 tonnes, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority said, as demand moderated from the biggest buyer - China.

Guar gum exports edged up 2 percent to 372,819 tonnes on robust demand from the United States.

India is the world's biggest exporter of buffalo meat, guar gum and rice.

The country's exports of pulses more than doubled during the period to 234,429 tonnes, while dairy exports surged 79 percent to 125,463 tonnes, the agency said.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)