The ministry of agriculture has proposed imposition of additional export duty on deoiled rice bran, to ease the supply of animal feed and bakery ingredient, in the domestic market. Production of deoiled rice bran in 2011-12 was estimated at 8-8.5 million tonnes of which around 170,000 tonnes or two per cent would be exported.

“The export currently carries a duty of 10 per cent but the domestic price of animal feed is increasing, a significant input in composition of prices of milk and poultry. On the other hand, domestic prices of milk and poultry are consistently increasing. Therefore, there is no reason why India should export deoiled rice bran when the demand in the domestic market is high, going by the prices of animal feed,” explained an official source.

This is based on the recommendation of the department of animal husbandry under the ministry of agriculture. Besides rice milling, animal feed is also extracted from oil cakes after oil extraction. India imports crude oil and the refining edible oil. Thus, when this is domestically marketed, it will be at a premium compared to in-house supply of animal feed. So, exports should be discouraged.

De-fatted or deoiled rice bran is obtained after extraction of oil from either raw or parboiled bran and contains a higher percentage of protein (17-20 per cent), vitamins (A and E) and minerals than full-fatted bran obtained from raw and parboiled paddy.

Meanwhile, to increase milk production and strengthen dairy co-operatives, the National Dairy Plan (NDP) proposes to set up producer firms under the Companies Act. The objective is to facilitate co-operatives to retain their 50 per cent share in milk production, amidst stiff competition from the private sector. Officials explained that a producer company would be registered under part XI of the Companies Act and set up to cover the entire value chain in the milk production process.

Source: http://business-standard.com