India’s NCEL to export 1,600 tonnes of white rice to Singapore

India’s National Cooperative Export Ltd, jointly owned by India’s five top cooperative organisations, will export 1,600 tonnes of white rice to Singapore following successful negotiations with the island nation’s aggregator. 

“We will soon negotiate to export 2,000 tonnes more. The shipment will be done in April itself,” said Jayen Mehta, Managing Director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand. As Amul is one of the promoters of NCEL, Mehta is its operational head. The other promoters are Kribhco, IFFCO, NAFED and National Cooperative Development Corporation.

Stating that Singapore is not facing any rice shortage, he said NCEL has exported rice worth ₹1,325 crore to various countries, including Singapore, which had reached out to India to take care of their food security. 

While 250 tonnes of rice have been exported to Singapore so far, the cooperative has ₹10,000 crore worth orders on hand, including wheat, rice, sugar, onions and other agricultural commodities, he said. Mehta, however, said the “customs duty issue” was affecting rice exports. 

Ban on exports

In September last year, the government announced an export quota of 50,000 tonnes of white rice to Singapore and NCEL was authorised to make the shipments. 

The Indian government announced the quota as it banned white rice export in July 2023 on fears of supply shortage in the domestic market following lower production and to rein in surging foodgrain prices. 

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, rice production, excluding zaid (summer) crop, has been projected at 123.82 mt for the current crop year to June. Last year, zaid rice production was 10.24 mt, which means rice production so far this year is 2 mt lower.