DOHA - Qatar is feeling the pinch of India's continuing ban on the export of non-basmati rice. The different brands of Indian rice are fast vanishing from the shelves, and the price of the limited stocks has trebled in the local market.
An estimated 100,000 Indian residents solely depend on non-basmati rice for their daily meal. In addition, non-basmati rice forms the staple food of many south-Asian residents in Qatar. The shortage of rice coupled with the steep price hike has put the residents in a fix.
The single labourers, who are forced to depend on restaurants and small eateries, have been the worst hit. With the price of boiled rice going up by 60-80 percent, some restaurants have stopped serving this favourite staple of south-Asians. As the restaurateurs cannot afford wasting the extra cooked rice, some have restricted the quantity being cooked. With the eateries deciding to serve only limited quantities of boiled rice during lunch, late-comers are often missing their preferred meal.
"Earlier, the restaurants used to serve rice any time between 12 noon and 3pm. Now, you have to make sure that you reach there well before 1pm to get your favourite menu", said an Indian resident, who is a regular visitor to a restaurant in the Old Airport area. Market enquiries revealed that the non-basmati rice has stopped coming in from India almost a couple of months ago. "We are totally depending on the rice from Thailand. During the last few months, the price of boiled rice has risen threefold and the market also feels the shortage of Basmati rice", said the purchasing manager of a leading retail outlet in Doha.
The price of boiled rice in the local market has surged by 70-80 percent over the last four months. A 20-kg bag of non-basmati rice, which was available for QR50, is now being sold for QR110. The price of 40 kg Basmati rice bag has gone up from QR 210 to QR300 in the same period.
The prices of all varieties of rice are expected to further go up in Qatar following India's decision not to relax a ban on rice exports imposed in March. Distributors say price of rice would come under further pressure as stocks are fast depleting.
India, which has been battling shortage of food grains and double-digit inflation decided in March to impose an interim ban on further exports of non-basmati rice. The exporters in India challenged the decision and got approval from the state courts to export the food grains. However, the federal government got a significant relief when the India's apex court upheld the government decision to impose a ban on the export of non-basmati rice in April.
A spate of recent natural disasters in South Asia recently have forced many countries in the region to impose a ban on the export of food grains.
Bangladesh is facing its worst food shortage in decades after more than 1.4 million acres of coastal land with paddy crops was decimated by Cyclone Sidr in November.
Economic tensions are also high in Sri Lanka, where unprecedented March floods wiped out more than 37,000 acres growing paddy crops. In India, thunderstorms and showers damaged a vast area growing rice, wheat, fruit and vegetable crops early April.
© The Peninsula 2008
