Rice stocks fall after Trump threatens fresh tariffs on Indian rice imports: LT Foods, KRBL, others down up to 8%

The shares of rice exporters dropped in trade on December 9 after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose fresh tariffs on India's rice exports to the US, dampening investor sentiment.

LT Foods, which is known for its brands like Daawat, saw its share price fall nearly 8 percent to hit an intraday low of Rs 362.2 per share. This comes as the company claims that its 'Royal' brand is the top basmati rice band in North America. The stock then recovered some losses to close around 1 percent lower.

GRM Overseas shares dropped around 6 percent intraday, while KRBL, Kaveri Seed Company and AWL Agri Business (formerly known as Adani Wilmar) shares fell around 2.5 percent each to their respective day's lows.

Here's what Trump said:

US President Donald Trump has signaled that his administration may impose fresh round of tariffs on agricultural imports — including Indian rice and Canadian fertilisers. He was responding to complaints from American farmers that cheap foreign goods are hurting domestic producers.

While announcing $12 billion in new assistance for US farmers at the White House, Trump said imported farm products were putting pressure on local producers and repeated his commitment to act against what he described as unfair trade practices.

"They shouldn't be dumping," Trump said, referring to India's exports of rice to the US. “I mean, I heard that, I heard that from others. You can’t do that,” he added.

Export-oriented stocks had significantly declined earlier after the Trump administration increased tariffs on Indian imports to a whopping 50 percent, citing New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. However, the rising expectations of India-US finalizing on the trade deal have supported the share prices in brief pockets.