Mumbai: India is expecting to ship 10,000 tonne of rice bran oil this financial year after the government eased restrictions on its bulk sale, giving a boost to small rice millers, an industry body said.
The country was exporting about 2,000 tonne of rice bran oil last year mainly in consumer packs, according to data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA).
"Lifting of the government restriction is a great boost to the industry and will help small rice millers across the country. We expect to export 10,000 tonne rice bran oil during this financial year," SEA Executive Director B V Mehta said.
Mehta said SEA is now looking at new export destination for shipping of rice bran oil, which fetches a premium over other edible oils.
Also rice bran oil is considered healthier and meets the recommendation of a well blended combination of SFA, MUFA and PUFA.
"There has been very good demand from countries like Japan and Thailand. We will also start exploring new destinations like Australia, New Zealand, the US for exports of rice bran oil," he added.
Earlier due to the restrictions, all output was absorbed in the domestic market, he said.
Mehta said the country produces 155 million tonne paddy and has a potential to produce 8.76 million tonne of rice bran and 1.53 million tonne of rice bran oil.
India was the highest producer of rice bran oil with an output of 9.5 lakh tonne in 2014-15, followed by China with 2 lakh tonne and Japan 80,000 tonne.
The country produces the best quality of rice bran oil with more than 150 solvent extraction units producing the edible oil.
The total global production of the rice bran oil is 15 lakh tonne. India is expected to produce 9.97 lakh tonne this year.
