BROKEN RICE

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Context

• India, the world’s largest exporter of rice, has banned exports of broken rice with immediate effect. The export policy has been revised from "free" to "prohibited".

Broken Rice

• Broken rice is fragments of rice grains, broken in the field, during drying, during transport, or during milling. Mechanical separators are used to separate the broken grains from the whole grains and sort them by size.
• Broken rice is fragmented, not defective; so, there is nothing wrong with it.

Recent ban

• The recent ban of broken rice is amid a 6 per cent reduction in paddy acreage in the ongoing Kharif season and increase in rice prices. This Kharif season, the area under paddy cultivation is around 6 per cent lower than the previous season at 383.99 lakh hectares. Farmers in India have sown less paddy this Kharif season. Kharif crops are mostly sown during monsoon -June and July, and the produce is harvested during October and November.
• Reason behind decline: The primary reason for the decline in the sown area could be attributed to the slow advancement of the monsoon in the month of June and its uneven spread in July in some growing key regions in the country.
• Concern: Less area under paddy under cultivation so far, this Kharif may lead to low production of the foodgrain.
• The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs further said the export of 'semi-milled or wholly-milled rice, whether or not polished or glazed (other than Parboiled rice and Basmati rice)' will also attract a customs duty of 20 per cent.

India bans broken rice export; 20% duty on other grades (downtoearth.org.in)