Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Monday assured full support to the rice exporters for increase in exports, which are on the decline due to stiff competition in the world market. Addressing rice exporters and traders during his visit of REAP House Karachi, Chief Executive (CE) TDAP S M Muneer said rice is an important commodity and fetching about $2 billion foreign exchange annually for the country, however its trade needs more attention to maintain current growth and find new markets to enhance its exports.
"I assure full support to rice exporters and traders for increase in the commodity's exports and TDAP will facilitate exporters in exploring new markets by sending delegations aboard," he added. Talking about the refund issue, the CE TDAP said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is personally taking interest in the release of pending refund claims and with his efforts some Rs 25 billion claims have already been released. "We know that pending refund claims are hindering production and exports, therefore the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been asked to ensure timely payment of refund claims," he added.
He said the government is making all-out efforts to facilitate trade and industry, however, all issues cannot be resolved in a few years. "The government is fully motivated to end the energy crisis and several new power projects have been initiated to fulfil the shortfall," he added.
Earlier, Senior Vice Chairman REAP Noman Ahmed Sheikh welcomed S M Muneer and informed the gathering that rice trade is facing a tough time due to low prices in the world market and rising cost of doing business in Pakistan. He said presently some 0.5 million rice stocks of previous crop are lying in the godowns of traders and exporters, while there are no buyers, of which they are forced to sell the commodity even less than procured price.
He urged the government to take immediate steps to save over $2 billion rice exports. "The government should address the issues being faced by rice exporters and reduce Export Refinance Rate to facilitate rice exports," Noman maintained. He said REAP is making efforts to explore new rice markets to enhance commodity exports. After lifting of the US sanctions, Iran can be a big importer of Pakistani rice, however, it needs legal banking channel to start the exports.
Senior Vice President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) Abdul Raheem Janu, Abdul Hasseb Khan, Zubair Tufail, Khalid Tawab, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Rauf Cheppal, Javeed Jillani, Hamid Hussain Qureshi and Wajid Paracha were also present.
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