(Image source from: Reuters.com)

One Million Tonnes Of Indian Rice Stuck At Ports:- Close to one million tonnes of rice is trapped and stuck at several ports after the buyers refused to pay the 20 percent export levy on the contract price that is introduced by the government recently. The government of India banned the exports on the broken rice and imposed a duty of 20 percent on the exports on Thursday. The duty prices are imposed from last night and the buyers are not ready to pay the duty prices that are imposed told B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA). The Indian ships with two million tonnes of rice are loaded from the ports of Visakhapatnam and Kakinada on a monthly basis.

New Delhi provided exemptions for the contracts backed by letters of credit or payment guarantees. As the margins are quite thin, the contractors are not ready to pay the duty charges that are introduced by the Indian government. More than 75,000 tonnes of rice is lying in the ports as per the estimates. More than 3,50,000 tonnes of broken rice is lying in the Indian ports. The broken rice shipments are scheduled to Senegal, China and Djibouti. Other grades of white rice are bought by Sri Lanka, Turkey, Benin and United Arab Emirates. The exporters and contractors are asking the Indian government to relax the rules for the transitional cargoes. The Commerce Ministry is yet to respond for the request.