LAHORE - Pakistan has come out of the crisis of low exports, which was observed during the last three years, as the rice exports have increased by around 30 percent to $1.58 billion during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (2017-18) as exporters pushed fresh cargoes to Indonesia, Kenya and other markets.

Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan chairman Samee Ullah Ch said that value of rice export trade has been showing improvement due to the coordination of REAP members with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and customs. “Our members are putting in untiring efforts, and aggressive marketing to increase rice exports and to earn valuable foreign exchange,” he added. He said rice exporters are making investments to install modern rice processing machinery and using value-addition technology.

He said the association is sending trade delegations to various countries for rice marketing. “Last month our delegation came back after a successful visit to Iran, which is very lucrative and a potential market for basmati rice. Around 100,000 tons of rice has so far been exported to Iran during the current season.” He hoped that a handsome amount of foreign exchange would be fetched by Pakistani rice exporters. He said that rice exports amounted to $1.23 billion during the corresponding period last year.

Samee Ullah Ch said exports increased 15 percent to 3.23 million tons during the 10 months of the current fiscal year of 2017/18. He said exports of non-basmati rice to Indonesia increased during the period.

“We exported 50,000 tons of non-basmati rice to Indonesia during the July-April period. Kenya remained the largest buyer of Pakistani non-basmati rice, buying 323,000 tons of rice amounting to $118 million. China is also one of the largest importers of Pakistani non-basmati rice.” He said demand for rice in the international markets is increasing. The crop was good in terms of both quality and quantity this year, he added.