Due to damage to the rice crop caused by devastating floods in Sindh province and south Punjab, growers of super Basmati are getting 50 percent more price of their produce as compared to last year''s crop, traders and growers told Business Recorder here on Saturday.
Former chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) and owner of a big rice mill Azhar Akhtar said that rice mills are buying super Basmati paddy at the rate of Rs 1400-1500 per 40 kg as compared to last year''s purchase price of Rs 850-900 per 40 kg.
He said though the government has fixed Rs 1250 per 40 kg price for super Basmati of 2010-2011 crop, yet the government did not take any action against growers who were getting Rs 250 more per 40 kg for their produce than the price offered by the government.
Azhar was confident that despite damage to rice crop in Sindh province, "we will still be in a position to maintain our super Basmati rice export momentum and fetch more than $2 billion in rice export during FY 2010-2011 Chairman Basmati Growers Association, Chaudhry Hamid Malhi said that 80 to 83 percent crop has been harvested whereas the remaining standing crop would be harvested by the first week of next month.
He hoped that the size of rice production in Punjab would be more or less the same of last year''s 3.3 million tons. He said about 0.8 million tons of old super Basmati of the 2009-2010 crop are still in stocks of the rice traders and exporters.
However, Malhi pointed out that though the growers are getting good price of their produce, yet DAP fertiliser price has risen from Rs 2200 per 50 KG bag to Rs 3300 per 50 kg bag. Malhi suggested that the government must fix minimum export price of rice as has been done by India, which is buying its super Basmati paddy at the rate of Pakistani Rs 2000 per 40 kg this season.
He said that the government must take serious notice that the public sector Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Service Corporation (PASSCO) still has not sold 0.1 million tons rice it procured last year as it would be a burden on our agriculture storage capacity and financial resources. Similarly, large quantities of exportable wheat are still lying with the Punjab government, he added.
However, a leading rice exporter of Karachi apprehended that Pakistan''s rice exports in the year ending June 2011 are likely to drop to 3 million tonnes from 4.6 million tonnes shipped a year ago as 1.2 million tonnes of paddy was washed away by the recent devastating floods in Sindh province.