Prices slide as India unwinds ban on rice exports

India has lifted its last restrictions on rice exports in a bid to double agricultural shipments by the end of the decade and boost economic growth.

India is the world’s largest rice exporter and this month’s decision to open up all rice for export has piled pressure on rival producers.

The price of a metric tonne of benchmark Thai white rice had fallen to $405 by last week, down from $669 in January 2024.

The decision comes as New Delhi seeks to increase agricultural and food exports to raise earnings and farmers’ income amid an economic slowdown in a country where the agriculture sector supports more than 42 per cent of the 1.4bn population.

India’s goal, according to commerce minister Piyush Goyal, was to ship $100bn worth of agricultural and food goods by 2030 — more than double the $48.15bn shipped in 2023-24.

“Last year we did about $50bn dollars in exports from India. But then, just like the stomach is hungry for more, the commerce ministry of any country is hungry for greater achievement.

I do hope to see a three-digit mark, the $100bn mark,” he said earlier this year.

The government has also eased restrictions on sugar exports. India started cracking down on rice exports in 2022 amid fears of a shortfall as prices rose in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Those restrictions triggered panic-buying in Asia and North America and sent the Asian benchmark rice price to its highest level since 2008.

India began easing export restrictions in September.

New Delhi, which exported 14mn tonnes of rice in 2023, is expected to export a record 21.5mn metric tonnes of rice between September 2024 and October 2025, according to S&P Global.

“In a market of about 54-55mn tonnes global, if India exports more than 20mn tonnes, it would be flooding the market,” said Ashok Gulati, an agricultural economist at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

Tags: exports, price, rice, India, shipments, restrictions, white rice