NEW DELHI: India has made an exception to its rice export ban for the benefit of Singapore, which also happens to be the highest investor in India. According to latest figures, Singapore is investing $17.2 billion in 2023 in various projects in India, including the Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City project.
India had announced a ban on rice exports on July 20 in a bid to control increase in prices. A month later, they have decided to export rice to Singapore to help it meet its food security requirements.
"India and Singapore enjoy a very close strategic partnership, characterised by shared interests, close economic ties and strong people-to-people connections, the ministry said in a statement. In view of this special relationship, India has decided to allow export of rice to meet the food security requirements of Singapore. Formal orders in this regard will be issued shortly," said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi.
Nearly 90 per cent of rice produced in the world is in Asia, and India is said to contribute nearly 40 per cent of the total rice exports globally. Singapore which has a high consumption of rice (statistics reveal it was nearly 347,000 metric tonnes in 2017) depends largely on India, Thailand and Vietnam for imports. Their consumption is increasing and according to Goldstein Research analyst the Singapore rice industry is expected to grow at CAGR of 1.9 per cent through 2030.
"Singapore is one of the largest investors in India, as a result India will do all it can to support them specially in this case as it is a question of their food security. Hence this exception of exports was made," according to a source.
Meanwhile, India banned the export of non-basmati white rice to control the rise in prices on July 20. This ban impacted nearly 80 per cent of the exports. However, on Wednesday (August 30), the government decided to permit exports of non-basmati rice that were trapped in ports. According to estimates, nearly 150,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice will be released from various ports for exports – most are said to be heading for East African and West African countries.
In addition, India imposed a 20 per cent duty on parboiled rice until October 15.
