The rupee's fall against the dollar has raised the hopes of rice exporters. The Indian rupee has fallen nearly 20 per cent against the dollar in the last one year.
Exporters are likely to take advantage of the situation by offering the foodgrain at competitive prices in view of the favourable trade exchange rate, said market analysts.
The rupee now is trading around Rs 54 to the dollar. In the last fiscal, nearly 4.2 million tonnes of non-basmati rice were exported, making India the second highest rice exporter. The landmark has been achieved despite exports being allowed from September only. Another two million tonnes are expected to be exported by June.
The Union Government is likely to release more stocks now since warehouses are running out space to store foodgrains, analysts said.
Domestic market
After witnessing a rally earlier this week, aromatic rice varieties managed to maintain their upper levels, while non-basmati varieties continued to rule flat on Thursday.
Steady domestic demand kept rice prices firm, said Mr Amit Kumar, proprietor of Ginni Rice. Prices are expected to rule around current levels for the next few days, he added.
In the physical market, Pusa-1121 (steam) quoted at Rs 6,850-7,000 a quintal while Pusa-1121 (sela) sold at Rs 5,500-5,800.
Pure basmati (raw) quoted at Rs 5,500 while pure basmati (sela) sold at Rs 4,800 a quintal.
For the brokens of Pusa-1121, Tibar sold at Rs 3,600- 3,800, Dubar Rs 2,900-3,000 while Mongra at Rs 2,200-2,400 a quintal.
Duplicate basmati sold at Rs 4,800-5,200 a quintal. PR-14 (steam) sold at Rs 2,400-2,700 a quintal while Sugandha (steam) was trading at Rs 3,900-4,100 a quintal.
Sharbati (steam) sold at Rs 3,800 while Sharbati (sela) was at Rs 3,750.
Permal (raw) sold at Rs 2,000-2,230 while Permal (sela) was at Rs 2,100-2,370. PR-11 (sela) sold at Rs 2,400-2,640 while PR-11 (steam) was trading at Rs 2,800-3,050.