Pakistan has missed an opportunity to export rice worth $300 million as it could not participate in three different tenders of 0.750 million tons rice in international markets due to high prices, sources said. Pakistani rice was offered higher by $29 to $55 per ton as compared to others, sources added.
Sources said Pakistani rice exporters missed the opportunity to export 0.5 million tons rice to Philippine for their prices were much higher than the other participants. In the same way they missed another opportunity to export 175,000 tons rice to Iraq and 75,000 tons rice to Mauritius due to the same reason in last five days. Rice exporters from Thailand and Vietnam offered much lower prices and grabbed the opportunity to export the said quantity of rice to three different countries.
Pakistani rice exporters blamed the intervention of the government institutions in rice trade for the recent price hike of this commodity. They said that the price of coarse rice has increased by 30 percent in the local market. They were of the view that the country's rice export could affect negatively due to price hike.
Thailand and Vietnam are the major competitors as they are offering much lower prices in the international market. On the other hand, India, after having a bumper crop this year, can also affect the Pakistani rice export, they added. India is considering to abolish $200 per ton export duty on Basmati rice imposed last year, while the Indian farmers and exporters are asking their government for lifting ban on export of non-Basmati rice.
Pakistani rice exporters demanded of the government to take immediate supportive steps to promote the export of this commodity. They said that the private sector has played an important role in increasing rice exports from $300 million to $1.2 billion. They demanded that they should be allowed level playing field without intervention of the government-owned organisations to achieve the target of $2.3 billion rice export for this fiscal year.