Egypt extends rice export ban to October 2010

Egypt extended its ban on rice exports by another year to October 2010, a source at the Trade Ministry said on Wednesday.
"There was an amendment to the previous decision extending the ban to October 1, 2010," the source, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
Egypt had imposed an export ban in March last year to control the rising cost of basic commodities. It had been expected to last until at least October 2009.
The ban was eased in February this year to allow exporters to sell rice abroad if they delivered the same amount under tender to the state grain buyer.
This created a market for rice export licences, as some traders who did not sell their rice abroad sold their licences to exporters. Local prices tumbled as a result, because some traders bid low in state tenders so they could secure licences to sell on.
The source did not give a reason for the new extension despite falling domestic prices but Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid has said that Egypt wants to reduce its domestic rice production to 2 million tonnes per year from 2.4 million tonnes to save water.
The ban would discourage farmers from growing more rice as lucrative export markets diminish.
Egypt, which consumes around 1.4 million tonnes of rice a year, has a water supply of about 860 cubic metres per person a year.
The figure is well below the water poverty line of 1,000 cubic metres per person a year, with agriculture consuming more than 80 percent of Egypt's water supply.