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Saudi Arabia Drops Subsidy on Rice Imports -Paper | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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DUBAI, (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has removed subsidies on rice imports as foreign exporters have been taking advantage of them to increase prices, a Saudi-based newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Rice importers in the kingdom had reported that a number of exporters had been exploiting the government support, said Abdul Rahman Al-Razzaq, deputy minister of trade and industry told al-Eqtisadiya newspaper.

“Right now prices of rice in India are at a comfortable level and we will continue to monitor the market and prices… the only beneficiaries of the subsidy are the exporters and not the consumers,” he said.

During the first half of this year global prices of the grain had dropped by around 50 percent due to a bumper harvest. However, prices are seen rising amid a drought in India.

In October, the Philippines — one of the biggest exporters — raised its first import tender for 2010 to secure supplies on concerns prices could soar.