(MENAFN- Live Mint) New Delhi: Malaysia's plantation industries and commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani on Thursday urged India to ease its export curbs on essential food commodities, especially rice, sugar and onion.
India must keep the export window open for Malaysia as the country meets India's palm oil requirement, the minister said in an interview.
Ghani met Union Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday to discuss the matter. They decided to increase cooperation between the two countries in the field of oil palm and other sectors.
"If India opens up exports of commodities like rice, sugar and onion, it will be beneficial for Malaysia," Abdul Ghani said. Malaysia, India's second biggest source of palm oil after Indonesia, finds it difficult to cater to its domestic demand for essential commodities due to India's protective measures.
Largest exporter of rice
India is the world's largest exporter of rice and onions and the second-largest exporter of sugar. India restricted exports of these items in 2023 to control local prices ahead of Lok Sabha elections. These sudden curbs have disrupted Malaysia's supply chain, given its reliance on India for these commodities.
Malaysia is able to meet only 65% of its non-basmati rice requirements through domestic production. For basmati rice, it depends on imports from India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
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Mint earlier reported that India is likely to lower the minimum export price for basmati rice to $800-$850 per tonne from $950 a tonne, replace the 20% export duty on parboiled rice with a fixed duty on overseas shipments and lift the ban on non-basmati white rice exports and fix a duty structure for it.
Additional rice sought
Earlier this year in March, Malaysia requested an additional 500,000 tonnes of non-basmati white rice from India, supplementing the 170,000 tonnes already allocated for the year. This request highlighted Malaysia's significant reliance on rice imports, with annual consumption at 2.5 million tonnes (mt) and an average imported supply of 750,000 tonnes, according to industry officials.
Additionally, in January, Malaysia had requested 100,000 tonnes of onions from India through a government-to-government route.
As far as meeting India's edible oil demand is concerned, 60% is done through imports, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia in the case of palm oil, with an annual share of 5.7 mt and 3 mt, respectively.
In 2021, India shipped goods worth $6.63 billion to Malaysia, while Malaysia's exports to India totaled $11.4 billion in the same year. By 2022, Malaysia's exports to India surged to $12.42 billion.
The Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia, B.N. Reddy, last November announced plans for India-Malaysia trade to reach $25 billion in the next three years. Currently, it stands at $20 billion.
Other than Indonesia and Malaysia, India buys palm oil from Thailand, while it imports soy oil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
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