India is giving its highest export allocation of non-basmati white rice to the Philippines.
In a statement, the Embassy of India in the Philippines said that India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry has effectively lifted its ban on overseas shipments of non-basmati white rice it imposed in July by allocating certain volumes to some countries, which includes the Philippines —one of the top importers of the staple grain.
“It is with immense pleasure to inform you that the highest allocation of rice export was made to the Philippines,” the embassy, in a statement, said.
“Request made at the leadership level and the positive decision reflects the growing confidence in the bilateral relationship,” the statement added.
The embassy disclosed that India is supplying the Philippines with 295,000 metric tons (MT) of non-basmati white rice, which is the highest allocation among the other countries that New Delhi has approved for export.
Other countries to be supplied with non-basmati white rice are Nepal (95,000 MT), Cameroon (190,000 MT), Cote d’ Ivore (142,000 MT), Republic of Guinea (142,000 MT), Malaysia (170,000 MT), and Seychelles (800 MT).
In August, the Department of Agriculture announced that it has opened talks with Vietnam and India for the importation of hundreds of thousands metric tons of rice to augment supply and decrease prices.
Rising rice prices, even with the imposition of price caps, caused inflation in September to accelerate further at 6.1% from 5.3% in August.
Rice inflation also saw its fastest rate in 14 years, clocking in at 17.9% last month from 8.7% in August.