NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--The Indian government eased a blanket ban on exports of non-basmati rice Thursday, allowing shipments of some premium varieties of the commodity. 

After a meeting of the federal Cabinet, Minister for Commerce, Kamal Nath, said that grades of non-basmati rice that are priced above $425/ton, on a free-on-board basis, can now be exported.

Exports of all non-basmati rice varieties were banned on Oct. 9 to keep a check on local prices and accelerate the government's procurement of rice from farmers to manage its subsidized sale programs.