The government is going to temporally ban export of rice bran to India to help local entrepreneurs boost edible oil production from it, an official said.
"We're now collecting information about the domestic production of rice bran and imports of non-oil rice bran annually. If we get a clear picture, we'll enforce the ban as soon as we can," the official at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said.
He said the EPB sent letters to a range of government agencies, including the Food Department, to know how many factories have been established in the country to produce oil from rice bran.
The bureau also wrote a letter to the ministry of commerce to discourage rice millers to export rice bran to the neighbouring country.
"A series of meetings were held between the EPB and commerce ministry to find ways of imposing the ban. But rice millers opposed to the move," a source said.
In a recent meeting, the millers argued that export of rice bran helps keep rice price stable across the country, saying they adjust production cost to the proceeds from bran export.
By contrast, owners of fish and poultry feed were opposed to exports, arguing the amount of rice bran produced daily by the millers is the same as its requirement.
A poultry owner, however, said "There is no reason to import non-oily rice bran from India against export of our rice bran."
"It is possible to produce quality edible oil from our rice bran that will meet a large segment of our daily demand and also we can export to the international market," an industry insider said.
While edible oil from rice bran is being produced by a number of local factories, imports are believed to be fairly large.
The daily production capacity of each factory is 200 tonnes edible oil, requiring 1,000 tonnes of rice bran by each factory a day, they added.
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