India’s rice production could fall by 60 lakh-70 lakh tonnes during the Kharif season this year due to a fall in paddy sowing area, the government said on Friday. However, the country would still have a surplus of the foodgrain, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said in a statement.

The Kharif season in India spans between June and October. The crops are sown at the beginning of the monsoon season and harvested at the end of it.

Earlier on Friday, India had banned the export of broken rice with immediate effect in an attempt to boost its supply and curb the hike in its price in the country. On Thursday, the government had also imposed a 20% export duty on various grades of rice to boost domestic supplies. Parboiled and basmati rice are exempt from the duty.

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At a press conference on Friday, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said that the shortfall of production in rice was due to because of lower than expected rains in many states, PTI reported.

Area under coverage for the paddy crop has declined by 4.95% to 393.79 lakh hectares in this year’s kharif season, the food ministry said in its statement. Paddy was sown in 414.31 lakh hectares in the year-ago period, the data showed.

“In domestic production 60-70 lakh tonnes estimated production loss is anticipated but due to good monsoon rains in some pockets, the production loss may reduce to 40-50 lakh tonnes,” the food ministry statement noted.

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India has banned the export of several foodgrain this year in order to control prices in the domestic market.

In May, India had banned the export of wheat after a spate of severe heatwaves since March curtailed output and domestic prices rose to a record high. The ban led to an increased demand for wheat flour, with its exports rising 200% between April and July from a year ago.

In August, New Delhi had restricted the export of wheat flour, maida, semolina and wholemeal aata to control rising prices.