KARACHI, Jan 24: Pakistani rice prices are likely to remain steady amid rising demand for Irri-6 from Africa, dealers said on Tuesday. “January and February are usually peak period for exports, so prices are likely to remain stable to higher as there is fresh demands from exporters,” said a Karachi-based dealer.

“Still, everybody in the world knows we are offering the most competitive price for Irri-6 so orders are comparatively much higher than last year.”

He said Pakistan had been offering Irri-6 at $216/217 a ton, two to three dollars lower than Thai and Vietnamese offers.

Dealers said exporters had shipped cargoes of 150,000 tons of Irri-6 in January, while orders of more than 100,000 tons were waiting to be shipped.

“But domestic prices are now close to levels at which they will become expensive for exporters, so some stability can be expected,” another Karachi-based dealer said.

West African countries are the major importers of Pakistani Irri-6 variety of rice because of its low prices.

The country expects a crop of more than five million tons in the year 2005 against last year’s 4.8 million tons. Annual domestic consumption is about 2.3 million tons.

Pakistan’s crop year runs from April to November. Sowing normally starts in mid-April and harvesting begins in August, peaking in September. The harvest in some areas of central Punjab continues until mid February.—Reuters