India stop their rice import

India has scrapped tenders to import rice, saying it has enough stocks to manage despite a harvest shortfall following the worst monsoon in almost four decades. A top-level cabinet committee on food cancelled the three tenders totalling 30 ,000 tonnes, which would have represented the first imports of the staple by India -- a traditional exporter -- since the 1980 s. "We are not importing (rice). We have adequate stocks. We will review (the decision) if there is any need," Commerce Minister Anand Sharma told reporters late Friday after the committee met. The tenders had been floated by state-owned trading firms MMTC, State Trading Corp and PEC. However, the Press Trust of India quoted an unnamed official as saying: "The government does not want to buy at such high prices." The decision not to import marks a U-turn from a government announcement when Sharma said India was in talks with Thailand and Vietnam about buying rice to offset an estimated summer harvest shortfall of at least 15 million tonnes.