LAHORE, Jan 12: The official intervention in rice business through the Trading Corporation Pakistan and the Pakistan Agriculture Services and Storage Corporation (Passco) has increased its price up to 30 per cent, putting industry under pressure, rice exporters claimed here on Monday.

In a press statement, the Rice Exporters Association Pakistan (Reap) said non-basmati rice price had gone up by 30 per cent and of basmati by 23 per cent, rendering export totally uneconomical and forcing 70 per cent mills out of business.

Closure of mills would throw about 500,000 people out of jobs, who were directly or indirectly attached to the rice export industry, it said. The government would also loose billions of rupees in revenue if mills closure continued, it added.

The statement said India was abolishing export duty on its basmati rice, which would rob Pakistani basmati of its competitive edge, allowing India to capture Pakistani market. Pakistan, being home to the best quality rice, had earned $2.2 billion last year, it said, adding that the prospects of repeating the performance were, however, being threatened by official intervention.

Reap is in favour of official support for growers but it should come during July-August before paddy hits the market. The Reap has been suggesting that the government should give subsidy directly to the farmers in the form of low-price inputs.

The exporters are of the view that purchase of rice by the government would not be in market’s favour. Moreover, they say, the TCP has no infrastructure to procure rice, which needs a careful handling before and after the purchase.

Commodity market worldwide suffers ups and downs and the graph varies. This year, rice price has come down due to international bumper crop. Pakistan cannot be an exception to this world trend. Last year, when market went up, the government took Reap on board and solved all problems amicably. But, it has not happened so far this year.

The government, Reap said, would do better to create separate rice ministry, which could take the export well beyond $4 billion within next two years. Reap representatives must be taken on board in both rice research institutes which had failed to introduce any variety of non-basmati rice in the last 40 years and of basmati in the last 15 years, it suggested.

The basmati trade mark should be registered by an official agency like the TDAP and it should be the property of Government of Pakistan, it proposed.

The Reap demanded that government should ensure that Indians did not end up capturing the Saudi market, where Pakistan’s share in rice export had already dropped from 54 per cent to a meager 10 per cent.