Import duty on rice in the offing at last

Taking advantage of zero tariff on import of rice from India, traders imported the stuff freely apparently without any ceiling having been either indicated or put in place. Resultantly, in little under eleven months since July last year rice imports soared to 12.91lakh tonnes, three times more than the total imports made last fiscal year. The knock-on effects have been evident: a downward spiral in domestic prices set in. This in turn meant a dampening of prices at the growers' level insofar as disposal of their own produce was concerned.

The farmers already ill-placed to recover their cost of production in a market fraught with intermediaries, the imports, in spite of good harvests, contributed to a denial of remunerative prices to them. Millers too, were affected in that they had difficulty in clearing their stocks.

Hence the last ditch effort by the food ministry to ask the NBR to impose duty on rice import to apply a brake on it. The other option that the government needs to implement relates to procurement of a sizable boro produce at incentive prices from the farmers. Procurement drives have often floundered on lack of incentive price on offer giving little edge to the growers over the market price. 

However, time is of the essence as far as imposition of import duty goes; this has to happen within a week coinciding with the boro harvest starting in full swing.