in order to shape the image of a "great power", India often plays a swollen face and pretends to be fat, for example, it forced "vaccine diplomacy" at the beginning. However, now that the world food security has sounded the alarm, India, as the world's largest rice exporter, has once again lost its chain.
It is reported that rice prices in India have been sitting on the ground recently, and Modi's government announced that it would impose a 2% export tariff on some rice, and this decision will be implemented on September 9. Such high tariffs will naturally discourage buyers. Five Indian exporters said that buyers refused to pay the new export tariffs, so Indian ports have stopped loading rice and millions of tons of grain are stranded in the ports.
so, what kind of ban is this? Specifically, it is divided into two parts. One part is to levy 2% export tax on polished rice. The second part is to ban the export of broken rice. More than 1 million tons of grain stranded in the port include 75 thousand tons of polished rice and 35 thousand tons of broken rice. Now that the ban comes out, those grains, especially broken rice, can neither be exported nor transported back to the interior of India.
In fact, this is the third time that India has restricted grain exports this year. In May, India was worried that domestic grain production would be affected by extremely hot weather, thus restricting the export of wheat and sugar. For this restriction on rice exports, India's motivation is that the rainfall in major rice producing areas is low this year, which has aroused people's concerns about rice production. However, this 2% tariff is still too high, and it is hard to escape the suspicion of "taking the opportunity to drive up the price of rice".
As mentioned earlier, India is the largest rice exporter in the world, accounting for more than 4% of the global rice trade. Last year, the export volume of Indian rice reached 21.5 million tons, setting a new record. Therefore, India's repeated restrictions on grain exports will have a certain impact on the world, and the impact on some countries and regions should be more obvious.
You know, nearly 2 million tons of rice exported by India every month will be shipped to 15 countries, including China, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. In particular, some African countries regard broken rice as their staple food. For them, India is an important supplier of broken rice. Now that India has "cut off supply", the situation in these African countries can be imagined.
For the whole world, India's restrictions on rice exports are bound to increase the pressure of price increase together with the factors of drought and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It is worth noting that the impact of this Indian move will also spread to China.
In the fiscal year of p>221-222, India exported 1.63 million tons of rice to China, a sharp increase of nearly 4%, while 97% of Indian rice imported from China was broken rice, and China has become the largest importer of Indian broken rice. In China, Indian broken rice is used for animal feed, making rice noodles and wine, which is also the main reason for the surge in demand.
However, China has always attached great importance to food security, and has made all-round preparations for food security issues. The rice trade with many Southeast Asian countries is also very mature, and it is not necessary for India.
In addition, countries that can't get enough from India will turn to big rice exporting countries like Vietnam and Thailand. For India, the rice restriction order will expose itself to the risk of losing market share, depending on how Modi government seeks the best balance between profit and market.