Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Patron Shahid Rasheed Butt on Sunday said the four-year rice export deal with Indonesia would bail out the troubled sector and stabilise prices at home.
He demanded more long and short term agreements with other countries to boost rice exports as the sector has been facing problems for the last few years.
Butt said in his statement that export of rice to Indonesia would boost overall exports to 4.6 million tonnes which would be a record and for which the government deserved credit.
Pakistan’s export forecast had recently been raised by 0.1 million tonnes in the wake of a deal with Indonesia, he added.
He said the reasons behind the crisis in the rice sector were high production cost, the exporters focusing on profit instead of quality and the availability of Indian rice on low rates.
Local exporters wanted to sell rice at $950 to $1100 per tonne while the Indians offered prices as low as 720 to 850 per tonne because of the low production cost and hidden subsidies in their country, he added.
India’s move to sell basmati at lower prices took a toll on Pakistan’s exports but its exporters remained unwilling to bring down their prices, Butt said.
The business leader said that Iran was another promising market where Pakistani rice was in great demand but the payment mechanism continued to discourage the exporters.
India would be a major competitor to Pakistan in the Iranian market for which exporters and the government need to make an effective strategy, he added.