Rice exporters ask SBP for more time to repay loans

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) on Monday urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to grant rice exporters an extension of six months to clear their loans.

Zulfikar Thaver, president, UNISAME, said the SME rice exporters have not been able to export rice to global destinations due to decline in exports and unfavourable commodities markets.

He said despite the best efforts of the SME rice exporters, they were unable to meet their targets and adjust amounts borrowed against export refinance on the basis of the previous year’s performance.

The rice exporters had become liable to penalties due to no fault of their own, but only because of slowdown in the international commercial activities in commodities market.

He said the ministries of finance, agriculture and commerce needed to sit together to chalk out a comprehensive plan to facilitate the farmers, millers, and processors so they could offer the best export prices to compete in the global markets.

“The high cost of finance, the high cost of farm inputs, and poor logistics and infrastructure are some of the reasons for our low competitiveness,” Thaver said. “Basically the government needs to declare rice sector as an industry and offer it the priority it deserves and frame rice policy to facilitate it.”

He said rice was the second largest export sector after textiles and if given the facilities of finance, insurance, marketing, and logistics support it would prove its worth.

“It is also very important that research is enhanced for new seed varieties for better yield to make our grains competitive. Modern methods of cultivation, irrigation and paddy drying (must be) adopted and the government must to recognise the importance of the rice sector and the challenges it faces,” Thaver added.