LT Foods, KRBL, other rice stocks rally up to 15% as India mulls relaxing export limits

The stock price of the company surged 2.79 percent to Rs 806.8 on NSE at 10:26 am.

Rice stocks were on a roll on July 9 as India mulls easing rice export limits before new crop arrives in the market in October. Rice-related stocks LT Foods, KRBL, GRM Overseas, and Kohinoor Foods surged in the range of 9-15 percent in trade, beating 0.1 percent rise in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.

According to reports, Centre may review restrictions placed on exports of certain varieties of rice in September, once the ongoing kharif season concludes and the final production figures are available.

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This potential policy change is expected to benefit millers and exporters and support the minimum support price (MSP) scheme. Currently, basmati rice can only be exported above a set floor price, parboiled rice exports are subject to a 20 percent duty, and non-basmati and broken rice exports are completely banned. These measures were implemented to ensure sufficient domestic supplies and stabilise prices.

The government now plans to replace the export ban on non-basmati and broken rice with a fixed export duty, similar to the existing policy for parboiled rice, and lower the minimum export price for basmati rice. This decision follows reports of ample rice stocks in warehouses and optimistic harvest forecasts due to favorable monsoon predictions.

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The latest estimates from the agricultural ministry predict this year's rice production at 136.7 metric tonnes (mt), up from 135 mt last year.

In FY24, India exported 15.7 mt of rice, compared to 21.8 mt in FY23. This included 2.36 mt of non-basmati white rice, 545,000 tonnes of broken rice, and 7.57 mt of parboiled rice. As the world's second-largest rice producer after China and the largest exporter, India contributed at least 40 percent to global rice trade before the export restrictions were imposed.

Over the past three months, shares of LT Foods, Kohinoor Foods, KRBL, and GRM Overseas have increased by 2-55 percent, compared to a 7 percent rise in the Nifty 50 index.

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