Indian rice traders have stopped signing new export contracts amid the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, as labor shortages and logistics disruptions have hampered the delivery of even existing contracts, industry officials said. The halt in exports from the world’s biggest exporter is allowing rival countries such as Thailand to raise shipments in the short term and lift global prices, forcing millions of poor consumers in Africa to pay higher prices. “Shipments have stalled as transport has become very difficult because of the lockdown. Drivers are not coming and labor is not available at mills and ports,” said B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association (REA). For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page. Indian traders have stopped offering quotes to overseas buyers as they are not sure when they would be able to ship their cargoes, four top exporters told Reuters. India’s export volumes have fallen by four to five times, said Prem Garg, chairman of the Lal Mahal Group, which exports rice to more than 44 countries. India will gradually pull out of a three-week lockdown in phases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. About 400,000 tons of non-basmati rice and 100,000 tons of basmati rice, meant for March-April delivery, are either stuck at ports or in the pipeline due to the lockdown, exporters said. New Delhi mainly exports non-basmati rice to Bangladesh, Nepal, Benin and Senegal, and premium basmati rice to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Read more: India to go under total coronavirus lockdown: PM Modi Coronavirus: India’s vast outsourcing industry struggles with work-from-home scenario Is India immune to coronavirus? As Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar curbed their rice exports, demand for Indian rice surged, but traders are not signing new contracts, said Nitin Gupta, vice president of trader Olam India’s rice business. Thailand, the only key exporter to offer rice currently, has seen its export prices soared to their highest in seven years this week. Before the lockdown, India was offering 5 percent broken parboiled variety at around $365 per ton free-on-board basis. Thailand is now been offering the same grade at around $540 per ton. “After the lockdown, there will be a huge demand for Indian rice, as India is in a sweet spot in terms of offering competitive prices,” said Olam’s Gupta. Since India has vast surplus stocks, it could start cashing in on demand once labor shortages ease, said REA’s Rao. India’s rice exports in 2019 fell 18.1 percent from a year earlierto 9.87 million tonnes, the lowest in eight years, as demandmoderated from key Asian and African buyers. India is likely to produce 117.47 million tons of rice in 2019/20 against an annual consumption of about 100 million tons, with state inventories at 31 million tons. If the lockdown is extended, or the pandemic spreads among key buying nations, denting demand, India’s rice industry could suffer major losses, said large exporter Vijay Sethia. اي استفسار أو طلب خاص بخصوص التوظيف يمكنك التواصل مع الابميل التالي – مجير الموقع : alturky28@gmail.com لطلبات التصميم او البرمجة التواصل مع : hamzalaabar@gmail.com