LT Foods says no impact on company's basmati exports from price limit of USD 1,200/tonnes

LT Foods Ltd on Monday said the government's decision to impose a minimum export price on basmati rice at USD 1,200 per tonne will not impact the company's outward shipments.

In a regulatory filing, the company asserted that the price limit does not have any "impact on the exports for LT Foods Ltd as the company mostly export premium and aged rice in our own trusted brands i.e. DAAWAT and Royal, the export price of which is mostly over and above the said minimum export price limit." 

The government has decided not to allow exports of basmati rice below USD 1,200 per tonne to restrict possible "illegal" shipment of white non-basmati rice in the garb of premium basmati rice.

In a statement on Sunday, the commerce ministry said it had directed the trade promotion body APEDA not to register contracts below USD 1,200 per tonne. Existing contracts below USD 1,200 per tonne have been kept in abeyance. A committee under the chairman of APEDA will be set up to evaluate future courses of action.

Basmati rice exporter GRM Overseas Managing Director Atul Garg said, "The average price of basmati rice exports during the last five financial years is between USD 900 and USD 1,000 per tonne".

"We urge the government to consider reducing the minimum export price of basmati rice from USD 1,200 per tonne for the industry as a whole," Garg added.

Seeking to control retail prices of rice, the central government has been taking several steps to boost domestic supply.

In September last year, it banned exports of broken rice, while it imposed restrictions on non-basmati white rice last month. Last week, a 20 per cent export duty was slapped on par-boiled non-basmati rice.

With these curbs, India has now imposed restrictions on all varieties of non-basmati rice.

India's total exports of basmati rice stood at USD 4.8 billion in 2022-23 in terms of price, while in volume terms, it was at 45.6 lakh tonne.

Exports of non-basmati stood at USD 6.36 billion in the last fiscal. In volume terms, it was 177.9 lakh tonnes