Pakistan rice export falls to 40 per cent

Pakistan’s rice exports have dropped by 40 per cent during the present financial year and the situation needs to be taken seriously, rice exporters said.

Pakistan’s rice exports have dropped by 40 per cent during the present financial year and the situation needs to be taken seriously, rice exporters said.

In monetary terms the losses suffered by the rice exporters fall in the range of $260.6 million and if appropriate measures were not ensured by the government, further decline in exports cannot be ruled out, said Jawaid Ali Ghori, Chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP).

Basmati rice exports as compared to last fiscal year during this fiscal year was facing the decline of 252,900 metric tonnes and $260.6 million in value in total rice exports from Pakistan.

The requirement of rice in South Africa is 0.6 million ton. In the year 2009 Pakistan exported 0.148 million ton worth $66 million to South Africa which decline to 66,000 ton in the year 2010 while from June 2012 till now export to South Africa now limited to 36,000 ton, said Jawaid Ali Ghori.

He further said now South Africa exporting rice from India, China, Philippine, Vietnam and Thailand although rice of Pakistan is best in terms of quality.

He urged the government to take appropriate measures and encourage the farmers to adopt the latest technology to increase the productivity so that better quality rice would be available for exports from Pakistani.

He advised the concerned authorities to discourage the trend of stock piling for artificial price hike and educate the farmers to take steps to reduce the production cost.

End.