Stakeholders alarmed over rice export slump

KARACHI: A sharp fall in the rice exports, during the first half of the current financial year, has steeped the stakeholders yet deeper in uncertainty over the future of their business, which has been stuck in the desperate straits for over last two years, an industry handout said on Saturday. 

"It is a matter of serious concern as the rice exports have slumped by no less than 18 percent in July-December 2016-17," Chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Mahmood Moulvi said in the statement. "A tough competition in the international market has weighed on the local rice exports big time." 

Deploring the nonchalance of the government, he held that despite being the country’s second largest earner of foreign exchange, rice export sector was not getting the attention it deserved. "In order to cover their losses and make them more competitive in the international market, the rice exporters must be granted rebates without delay," said he.                                                                             

Moulvi stressed the sector has been facing hardship and challenges for the last 2-3 years and needed to be bailed out urgently. "We are appealing to the government to announce a relief package for the survival of this important sector," he said, suggesting a 2-5 percent rebate scheme on higher exports would be a good booster for the sector. 

Continuing his statement, the REAP chief added the 2016 was a very challenging year for the rice trade due to tame prices and looming competition in the world market. 

"Even a low domestic commodity market failed to help Pakistani exporters compete with their counterparts from the neighbouring country, where prices offered were much lower," he said. 

Talking on trade with Iran, a good buyer of Pakistani Basmati rice, he said despite lifting of international sanctions, Pakistani exporters were still unable to initiate official exports with Iran in the absence of a banking channel. "The government of Pakistan and State Bank of Pakistan are requested resolve the issue on priority basis," Moulvi said .