India imposes export tax on rice; Nepal will bear the brunt

KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 9: The Indian government has started to impose a tax on rice export from today. Except for the long grain one (Basmati), the tax for all other types of rice exported from India is fixed at 20 percent.  With this, the price of this commodity will further go up in the Nepali market. Over the last two months, there has already been an average increase of 20 percent in the price of rice..  

“The latest move on the part of the southern neighbour is sure to cause a price hike of rice here in Nepal. So, in order to minimize this problem, the government must focus its attention on augmenting paddy production,” experts suggest.  

Nepal bought 67,800 metric tons of rice worth Rs 5.7 billion from India last year. In the last month of Shrawan alone, the former imported 3006 metric tons of rice amounting to Rs 270 million from the latter.

Because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the southern neighbour is focused on maintaining its internal food security. As such, it has now imposed an import tax on rice.  Earlier, India also imposed a ban on the export of sugar and wheat. It may be noted that the southern neighbour accounts for 40 percent of the total global trade of rice.