August 21, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-us-Sani 22, 1424

KARACHI, Aug 20: Pakistani rice exports were thin during the past week, due to dwindling stocks and high domestic prices, although existing orders were being shipped, traders said on Wednesday.

They said the market lacked demand, while low end-season stocks had made it hard for exporters to do business.

“Nothing is happening in the market...there are no stocks available,” said Haji Majeed, a rice exporter in Karachi.

He said the traders were expecting fresh supplies from central Punjab province in the second week of September with the market picking up in October.

Another dealer said prices would rise further in coming weeks after rain damaged the crop in southern Sindh province.

Agriculture officials in Islamabad said recent monsoon rains and flooding had damaged at least 15 to 20 per cent of IRRI varieties in Sindh.

Pakistan aimed to produce 2.275 million tons of Irri rice during the 2003-04 (April-Nov) crop season, all in Sindh, while the country estimates total rice output at 4.3 million tons during the crop year.

Rice harvesting in most of Sindh begins in September but officials said a number of rice fields were still flooded and harvesting could be delayed.

“The problem we are facing is the high local prices due to thin stocks and high prices have stopped exports,” the exporter said. “Except for a few East African countries, we have not much orders from any other part of the world.”

He said Pakistani traders were quoting export prices of $185-$186 per ton for the Irri-6 variety, around $35 higher than other countries.

Dealers said on Wednesday that 100-kg bags of Irri-6 were quoted at Rs990/1,090, Rs50 up from the previous week.—Reuters