India to export 14,000 tonnes of rice to Mauritius in an ‘exception for friends’

India will supply 14,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice this year to Mauritius under “humanitarian operations”, India’s Mint newspaper reported.

The decision has been taken after India received a request from Mauritius to exempt the export prohibition on non-basmati rice.

The consignment of non-basmati rice is expected to reach Mauritius in the first week of September before the island’s rice stocks exhaust on 15 September. 

Mauritius annually imports around 24,000 tonnes of long grain white rice that is consumed by vulnerable groups.

During April-June of the ongoing financial year, India exported 784.14 tonnes of rice to Mauritius as against 843.46 tonnes during the corresponding period last year. In the 2022-23 financial year, nearly 10,040 tonnes of rice were exported to the island by India.

India is the world’s biggest rice exporter, accounting for nearly 45% of the global rice trade. In April-June of the current financial year, the country exported 1.55 million tonnes of non-basmati white rice and 371,000 tonnes of broken rice compared with last year’s 1.15 mt and 141,000 tonnes, respectively.

Source: Livemint