KARACHI, April 13: Pakistani rice exports were thin during the past week as existing orders were shipped but new demand was limited due to high domestic prices of Irri-6 variety of rice, traders said on Tuesday.

"The prices will not ease in near term as demand of rice in the local market is high," said a trader in Karachi. "High local prices are hurting exports of Irri (rice)." Traders said Pakistani exporters were quoting Irri-6 in a range of $245 to $252 per ton, which was uncompetitive.

High domestic prices were likely to keep business dull in coming weeks as the local exporters could not match competitors' prices on the international market, they added.

Pakistan estimates domestic output of 4.3 million tons of rice in the 2003-04 crop year, out of which the country has targeted to produce 2.275 million tons of Irri varieties of rice. The country is likely to harvest 2.025 million tons of superior quality aromatic Basmati.

"Thailand is doing good business and it is grabing our market one by one," said another exporter. The main buyers of Pakistani rice are Iraq, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and East African countries.

Rahim Janoo, a trader, said export outlook of aromatic Basmati rice was bullish after a surge in queries from the international buyers. "We expect more export of Basmati rice this year as Iranian buyers are increasingly looking for supply's from Pakistan," he added.

Iran bought a total of 365,000 tons of Pakistani Basmati rice in the fiscal year 2002-03. Pakistani exporters see potential in Iran, where the government imports at least 800,000 tons of superior quality rice a year to meet domestic demand of 2.8 million tons. -Reuters