Pakistan will not allow India to get an approval of World Trade Organization (WTO) members for its Food Security Law which the Pakistan government claims is market distorting. According to local sources, the Pakistan government is seeking support of other rice exporters, Thailand and Vietnam, to prevent India from getting a legal subsidy on rice exports in the next WTO meeting to be held in December 2013.
According to local sources, Pakistan government officials say that Pakistan has already lost rice export market share to India last year due to exports of subsidized rice from stocks maintained by India’s state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI). They add that the recently enacted Food Security Law will allow India to increase subsidies provided to farmers which will ultimately distort the international export market.
India and other G-33 countries are proposing changes in WTO rules which will help increase food subsidies for welfare programs. The Indian government says that the Food Security Law will not distort the international rice market. Local traders in India say that almost all the rice exported by India is handled completely by private traders without any involvement of the FCI.
India is the world’s largest rice exporter, ahead of Thailand and Vietnam.