DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates’ rice exporting ban issued Friday comes about a week after India issued its major prohibition on non-basmati rice exports, heavily affecting the local markets of the Gulf country that imports 90% of its food.
The UAE was the 16th-largest importer of rice in the world in 2021, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, importing $484 million in rice that year. It also imported the majority of its rice from India ($301 million) and is therefore critically impacted by the new Indian policy.
What happened: The UAE Ministry of Economy announced on Friday a temporary suspension of rice exports and reexports to foreign markets for four months.
The ban covers “various types of rice and their products that do not originate from India,” the ministry said in a statement.
