Opening of LCs: rice exporters asked to name banks having branches in Russia

The Russian Federation authorities have sought the name of any bank with branches in Russia from the rice exporters of Pakistan through which they could open their letters of credit (LCs). Earlier, the Pakistani rice exporters were in a fix as the mode of payment through Russian banks was cumbersome and the commercial banks in Pakistan were not ready to accept delayed payments.
According to sources, the Russian Federation authorities have written a letter to the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap), seeking the name of any bank with branches in Russia through which they could open their LCs. Russia has lifted the ban on rice import from Pakistan and placed an order to buy 30,000 tonnes of rice per month.
Sources said that Pakistan could earn five billion dollars from the rice exports every year, as the exporters had already made this product attractive in the international market. They said that the rice export earned record 550 million dollars in September as against 455 million dollars fetched during the last year.
The total export of rice was about 0.2 million tonnes in September alone, while the same quantity was exported throughout last year. This year Pakistani basmati was sold at 1,460 dollars a tonne as compared to the last year's price of 667 dollars per tonne.
Almost 0.3 million tonnes of other varieties of rice were exported at the value of 772 dollars a tonne in September as compared to 370 dollars per tonne last year. According to the sources, huge increase in export was due to the bumper crop with seven million tonne production this year.
This year, the government is expecting higher rice output, touching about 6.3 million tonnes, while last year the total production was 5.561 million tonnes. "Our domestic consumption is 2.2 million tonnes and after achieving the production target of 6.3 million tonnes, Pakistan would be able to export 4.1 million tonnes", the sources added.
Sources said that the rice exporters had played a pivotal role in promoting Pakistani rice abroad. "To enhance the value of a product in international market, two factors play important role, ie quality of the product and the psychology of the buyer, and these factors have been dealt with skilfully by the Pakistani rice exporters", said the sources. In international market, the price of rice per tons has reached at $717 per tones while it was $331 per tones during the last corresponding year.