Pakistani rice exports were thin during the past week as existing orders were shipped but new demand was limited due to high domestic prices of IRRI-6 variety of rice, traders said on Tuesday.
"The prices will not ease in near term as demand of rice in the local market is high," said a trader in Karachi. "High local prices are hurting exports of IRRI (rice)."
Traders said Pakistani exporters were quoting IRRI-6 in a range of $245 to $252 per tonnes, which was uncompetitive.
High domestic prices were likely to keep business dull in coming weeks as the local exporters could not match competitors' prices on the international market, they added.
Pakistan government estimates domestic output of 4.3 million tonnes of rice in the 2003/04 crop year, out of which the country has targeted to produce 2.275 million tonnes of IRRI varieties of rice.
The country is likely to harvest 2.025 million tonnes of superior quality aromatic Basmati.
"Thailand is doing good business and it is garbing our market one by one," said another exporter. The main buyers of Pakistani rice are Iraq, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and East African countries.
Rahim Janoo, a trader said export outlook of aromatic Basmati rice was bullish after a surge in queries from the international buyers.
"We expect more export of Basmati rice this year as Iranian buyers are increasingly looking for supply's from Pakistan," he added.
Iran bought a total of 365,000 tonnes of Pakistani Basmati rice in the 2002/03 (July-June) fiscal year.
Pakistani exporters see potential in Iran, where the government imports at least 800,000 tonnes of superior quality rice a year to meet domestic demand of 2.8 million tonnes.
Traders said around 600,000 tonnes of rice stocks of all varieties were available with mill owners and growers and exporters hope to ship at least half of the available stock before the end of the current season.
The government said it hopes to exports 1.9 million tonnes in the fiscal year to June 30, against the previous year's 1.72 million tonnes. Annual domestic demand is 2.3 million tonnes.