KARACHI, Dec 2: Pakistan rice prices rose on demand from exporters, and dealers said the market would remain firm as supplies from farms were slow.

“We were expecting a dip in prices on high supplies after the Eid holidays,” said Haji Majeed, a leading exporter. “But prices rose because of big export orders from two African countries and slow arrivals from farms.”

Mr Majeed said exporters managed to win a 20,000-ton rice export order for Tanzania and 50,000 tons for Kenya.

“These two orders pushed prices up in the domestic market,” he said.

Pakistan expects to export 1.9 million tons of rice in the fiscal year 2003-04, against the previous year’s 1.72 million.

The new crop is expected to yield 4.3-4.6 million tons, with domestic demand put at 2.3 million tons a year. Pakistan’s rice year runs from April to November.

Dealers said 3,000 to 3,500 tons were arriving daily from farms.

“The crop is good, but farmers are releasing their stocks slowly to get good rates,” Mr Majeed said.

Another dealer said exporters were also eyeing the Middle East market for exports of fine quality Basmati rice. But so far no big orders were in the pipeline, he said.

Exporters were quoting FOB Karachi prices at around $178/ 180 per ton for Irri-6 compared with $175/176 in mid-November.

Dealers said 100-kg bags of Irri-6 were quoted at Rs945/965 in the domestic market.

—Reuters