November 19, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 13, 1423

KARACHI, Nov 18: Rrice exports have slowed down during the last week on low international demand, and dealers said on Monday high domestic prices were also a hindrance.

Exporters said the slow arrival of fresh crop from southern Sindh province has strengthened prices in the domestic market and exports would remain thin during the current week.

“The issue we are facing is the high local prices, which has made export unviable,” said Haji Majeed, a rice exporter in Karachi.

He said there were only a few inquiries about Pakistani rice as prices offered by India and other competitors were much lower.

“Pakistani exporters have not been able to match these low prices,” Majeed added.

Pakistani exporters were quoting FOB Karachi prices at around $158/159 a ton for IRRI-6.

Majeed said the market was expecting that arrivals from the new crop would pick up in the first week of December and then the domestic prices would slide.

“If prices come down to Rs7,400/7,500 ($127/$129) per ton or below, we can quote export prices,” he added.—Reuters