Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan has said Pakistan has concluded an agreement with Indonesia to export one million ton of rice worth $ 400 million over the next four years.
The agreement for export of rice will be implemented by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and Indonesian government’s organisation BULOG (State Logistic Agency).
The TCP has finalised first tender of 15,000 metric tons of rice export to Indonesia which includes 5,000 metric tons of basmati rice and 10,000 metric tonnes of non-basmati rice.
The minister said that the intensive trade diplomacy of ministry of commerce had resulted in securing a large export market for Pakistani rice for 2016-2019. He said the export order of one million ton would end the uncertainty prevailing in the domestic rice market and lucrative prices would prove to be an impetus for growers to expand rice production in coming years.
He said that the ministry of commerce in collaboration with the ministry of national food security and research would bring in new legislation for high-yielding varieties of rice and law for geographical indication for Pakistani basmati rice.
Pakistan is the first country out of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to have rice export agreement with Indonesia. Pak-Indonesia trade rose 215 per cent to $2.2 billion in 2014 from $ 700 million in 2010 after the conclusion of preferential trade agreement.