December 13, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 21, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The Kenyan customs authorities have withheld containers of Pakistani rice on ports on standard ground, an official told Dawn on Tuesday.

The clearance of these containers has been stopped for what they said that Pakistani rice, mostly Irri, did not meet their local standards.

Pakistan exported around 150,000 tons of rice to Kenya last year, which is one of the big markets of Pakistani rice in the Africa.

"We have received intimation from our high commission from Kenya that Pakistani rice containers were withheld on standard ground,", a senior official said on condition of anonymity.

The secretary of food and agriculture was reached on telephone, but he was not available for comments.

The official said the real cause of withholding of the containers was not clear, but it would delay delivery of rice to buyers.

When asked about the number of containers, the official said that the commerce ministry is yet to get information from its commercial officers posted in Pakistani high commission in Kenya.

A rice exporter, requesting not to be mentioned, told this scribe on telephone from Lahore that he felt that the containers were withheld due to high moisture paddy resulting in Aflatoxin — a fungus contamination.

He said Kenya was sensitive about the Aflatoxin because it was the prime cause of acute liver disease in that country few years ago. Hundreds of people died due to this fungus carried mostly in food products.