India's rice exports drop 12% in Jan on weak demand

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's rice exports fell 12% in January from a year earlier due to weak demand for non-basmati rice from African and Asian countries, government data showed on Tuesday.

India is the world's biggest exporter of rice.

Rice exports totalled 908,492 tonnes in January, down from 1.03 million tonnes a year earlier, according to data compiled by the ministry of commerce and industry.

Non-basmati rice exports dropped 14% from a year earlier to 452,519 tonnes, while basmati rice exports fell 10% to 455,973 tonnes, the data showed.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Susan Fenton)