India Yet To Decide On Lifting Rice Export Ban Says Agriculture Minister

India has yet to decide on lifting an export ban on select varieties of common-grade rice, although a few states have asked the federal government to allow some shipments following a bumper crop this year, Food Minister Sharad Pawar said. India imposed a ban on the export of wheat and rice in 2007 to curb prices, but there is no fear of a shortage this crop year through June as good monsoon rains prompted farmers to increase cultivation. We have received requests for export of some varieties of non-basmati [common grades] rice from certain states like Andhra Pradesh, but we haven't decided anything yet, Pawar said. I have been informed that there have been some damages [to the rice crop]. Our team has gone to those areas. We are waiting for the report, he added. Earlier, food ministry officials had said the government could review the ban after the harvest of summer-sown crops in October-November. Private traders have also been lobbying the government to allow exports of premium non-basmati rice at a floor price of $900/ton.The government currently allows exports of only premier, aromatic basmati rice at a floor price of $900/ton. Exports from India, the world's second-largest rice producer, may help to cool global prices that have been rising due to tight supplies and a drought in the wheat-growing Black Sea region that has raised demand for other grains. The Rice Price Index of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, a measure of the monthly change in international prices of the grain, rose 11.12 points to 260.37 in November from the previous month and is up 30% since May. Although India's federal grain stocks are more than double of its requirement for welfare programs, the government will likely weigh any decision on exports cautiously as it will need enough stocks for a proposed law that guarantees cheap food grains to the poor. Government officials are also concerned about late rains in key rice growing areas that may have damaged the crop just when it was ready for harvest. The government had in September forecast summer rice output to rise 5.9% to 80.41 million tons in 2010-11 on higher plantings.