Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2012-07-25

Exportation of Rice and Paddy

- the proposal made by H.E. the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance and Planning, to impose a minimum price on the exportation of Paddy and Rice, until the production of Maha Season 2012 / 2013 is harvested, so that an adequate stock of rice in the country at affordable prices could be ensured until the paddy production of Maha Season is yielded and supplied to the market and to submit the relevant Gazette Notification pertaining to the regulations imposed in terms of the provisions of the Import and Export Control Act No.01 of 1969, was approved by the Cabinet. At present the Government is processing a paddy stock of approximately 240,260 MT. purchased by the Paddy Marketing Board and another stock of 59,786 MT. purchased by the District Secretariats and the total investment by the Government for this stock of paddy is Rs.4,115 million. The Government has also granted Rs.4,750 million to the State Banks as a facility for the purchase of paddy. The rice varieties produced exclusively for the purpose of exporting to the foreign market will not be affected by implementation of the above proposal.