Due to hike in domestic demand the centre has banned the export of broken rice, mostly used as animal food and as component for ethanol production.
India exports broken rice mainly to China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Dijboti. In the fast five months India exported about 21.31 lakh tonne of broken rice in the past five months.
Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, justified the ban saying that the move would ensure adequate availability of broken rice for the domestic poultry industry and for other animal feedstock and for producing ethanol under the ethanol blending programme.
The country may witness a short fall of about 6% in area and production of paddy during the ongoing Kharif season. Eventhough in domestic production, 60-70 lakh tonnes estimated production loss is anticipated because of good monsoon rain the loss may reduce to 40 to 50 tonnes.
There has been a rise in global demand for broken rice due to geo-political scenario which has impacted price movement of commodities. Statistics reveals that the export of broken rice has increased by 43 times in the last four years.
