Thailand’s rice exports are expected to face stiffer competition as India has removed export restrictions and taxes, allowing unlimited rice exports, according to Charoen Laothammatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

The North-Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC) organized an initiative to promote millets in India at Gangtok today, focusing on generating awareness and highlighting the benefits of millet consumption to encourage increased production by farmers. Commodore Rajiv Ashok, Managing Director of NERAMAC, emphasized the nutritional value of Super Food Millets, its low Glycemic Index, and the government’s thrust towards promoting this produce, culminating in the International Year of Millets in 2023.

According to an NBR statutory regulatory order (SRO), the total duty on onion imports has been reduced from 10% to 0%. This means no import taxes will be applied to onion imports, effective immediately.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) on Tuesday said container traffic at its port rose 11.86 per cent year-on-year to 6,14,651 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in October.

India’s rice production in 2024 kharif season is estimated at 119.93 million tonnes (mt), which shows that the output has jumped by about 30 mt in the past decade alone. The rice output in the last kharif was 113.26 mt. This also reflects farmers’ growing preference for paddy crop when there is uncertainty over yield and prices of other crops, experts said.

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have come together to demand that concerns over support for public stockholding of foodgrains - an issue critical for procurement - along with special safeguard measures to check surge in import of agricultural products be addressed in the Geneva-based trade body's committee on agriculture instead of focusing on all issues through a 'facilitator-driven' approach, being pushed by the WTO secretariat.

Against the backdrop of rising prices, the government has geared up efforts to buy rice from the international market to replenish stocks and ensure distributions under social safety net schemes to arrest market volatility.

Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has introduced mandatory annual reporting requirements for exporters who have claimed duty credits exceeding Rs 1 crore under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has released First Advance Estimates of production of Major Agricultural Crops (Kharif Only) for the year 2024-25.These estimates have been primarily prepared on the basis of information received from States.