Govt Allows Export Of Rice Bran Oil In Bulk

The Government has allowed export of rice bran oil in bulk and other edible oil in branded consumer packs of up to five kg with a minimum export price of $900 (?57,363) a tonne. Trade expects rice bran oil exports to jump sharply to 10,000 tonnes this fiscal against 2,000 tonnes achieved last year.

India produces about 10 lakh tonnes of rice bran oil annually and is largely consumed in the domestic market. Bran, the brown layer on rice grain, has 10-25 per cent oil content. Though the rice bran oil is considered cheap and healthier, it has not gained popularity among Indian consumers as it does not have any particular taste unlike groundnut, soybean or sunflower oils.

India, one of the largest consumers of edible oil, imports about 10 million tonne (mt) of edible oil per annum. It meets about 60 per cent of its vegetable oil demand of 17-18 mt through imports.

Speaking on the sidelines of Global Rice Bran Conference organised by the Solvent Extractors’ Association, Dr V Prakash, Scientist with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research said, “The decision to allow rice bran oil export in bulk without any limit may push up prices in the domestic market as producers would find it easier to sell it abroad than packaging and labelling for the domestic market.”

However, he added, given the poor demand and low awareness of the benefits of rice bran oil, bulk exports will not have much impact for consumers.

Though India is the second largest producer of rice after China, the nation has not fully explored the potential of producing rice bran, which can be also be used in the pharma sector.

China is slowly getting used to rice bran oil and it’s a matter of time before it becomes the leading supplier of this oil.

“India should consider importing raw rice bran from Thailand and do the value addition here to produce the oil,” said Prakash. BV Mehta, Executive Director, Solvent Extractors’ Association said there is good demand for Indian rice bran oil in countries such as Japan and Thailand.

Since rice bran oil has no particular taste, it can be easily blended with any oil and may be imported back into India as a value added product or olive oil. Incidentally, the demand for rice bran oil in India is more in non-paddy growing northern and western regions than in the eastern and southern parts.

Source:thehindubusinessline.com