21 January 2004	Wednesday	28 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 20: Pakistani rice prices rose this week on slow arrivals from the new crop and supplies are expected to remain sluggish ahead of Eidul Azha due early next month, dealers said on Tuesday.

"There is not much activity these days," said Haji Majeed, an exporter in Karachi, adding that supplies would not pick up until after the latter part of the first week of February, once the Eid festival was over.

Mr Majeed said there was a dearth of transport to bring rice from farms to the markets. "Most trucks are bringing in sacrificial animals from the rural areas for Eid."

Dealers said rice prices rose in recent weeks due to the short supply and exporters were finding it difficult to compete with other rice exporting nations.

For Irri-6 variety, Pakistani exporters were quoting export prices of $187-$188 per ton, Mr Majeed said, while competitors were offering the same quality at much lower rates.

Iraq, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and several East African countries are the traditional buyers of Irri-6 from Pakistan. The fine-quality basmati rice is popular mainly in the oil-rich Middle Eastern countries and Europe.

Dealers said they expect prices to slip after Eidul Azha on higher supplies. Pakistan's rice year runs from April to November but supplies have not yet peaked even though it is currently the harvesting season as farmers are releasing stocks slowly aiming for higher prices.

The new crop is expected to yield 4.3 to 4.6 million tons, with domestic demand at 2.3 million tons. Pakistan expects to export 1.9 million tons in the fiscal year to June 30, against the previous year's 1.72 million.

Dealers said 100-kg bags of Irri-6 were quoted at Rs1,050/1,080 in the local market, up around Rs20 from the previous week. Exporters were quoting FOB Karachi prices of about $187/ $188 a ton for Irri-6 rice against previous week's $184/$185.-Reuters