KARACHI: Rice exporters on Friday urged the government to approach Qatari authorities for including Pakistan origin rice in the Doha’s second import tender for 48,000 tonnes which had been specified for Indian-origin rice only.

At a meeting held at the Federation House, Convener FPCCI Standing Committee on Rice Rafique Suleman met with the members of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap).

Appreciating the efforts made by the Ministry of Commerce in re-opening of Qatari market for Pakistani rice which also resulted in winning the first import tender of 4,000 tonnes rice. However, the participants regretted that the second tender issued by Qatar was specific for Indian rice only. The FPCCI convener urged the government to take up this matter with relevant Qatari authorities.

Besides including Pakistan in this the second tender of 48,000 tonnes rice, Mr Suleman also demanded that in future all tenders to be issued by Qatar should without any discrimination to give an opportunity to Pakistan rice imports.

He explained that import tenders issued by Qatar for rice varieties belonging to both India and Pakistan should not be origin specific so that a fair level playing field was ensured to rice exporters of both countries.

Mr Suleman informed the participants that new revolutionary rice seed variety called Green Super Rice (GSR) is very low cost and needs less quantity of water and other inputs while the yield is better than other rice seeds.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2019