July 08, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1428

LARKANA, July 7: The Sindh-Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association (SBRMTA) has urged the government to form a coordination body to assess and fix minimum export price of rice in the light of trends in the international market. Arif Hussain Mahisar, the newly-elected president of the SBRMTA, and other office-bearers in a statement issued here on Saturday said the coordination body should have representatives of growers, millers, traders, exporters and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

They said the Motorway Police were not allowing trucks carrying more than 22 tons of rice to Karachi on the plea that it would damage roads.

On the contrary, they said, there were no restrictions on containers with over 24 tons load.

They called upon the government to direct the Motorway Police to allow in Karachi trucks carrying 24 tons of rice.

The association leaders said that due to procedural bottlenecks, the rice industry could not enjoy facilities offered by the State Bank of Pakistan through the Export Re-financing (ERF) and Long-Term Financing for Exporters Oriented Projects (LTFEOP).

They urged the State Bank of Pakistan to recognise the rice industry as an indirect exporters industry and fix financing at 7.5 per cent mark up.