KARACHI, Jan 2: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has drawn the attention of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) towards the fixation of minimum export price (MEP) of $500 per tons by the Indian government for coarse rice.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the chief of the Unisame Zulfikar Thaver urged the ministry of commerce to take measures to encourage exporters to go for value-addition of coarse rice.

He suggested that by fixing the MEP, exporters would be compelled to go for value-addition.

He said the Indian government had raised the MEP for coarse rice from $425 per ton to $500 per ton fob which means that exporters have been forced to fetch better price and that could only be achieved by value-addition.

Consequently, he urged the MoC to immediately take steps in consultation with stakeholders so that higher prices could be fetched in the world market.

Mr Thaver further stated that the Indian government had earlier banned export of all categories of non-basmati rice with effect from Oct 9. However, on strong demand from exporters, the ban was lifted by the Indian government on Oct 31, but after fixing the MEP at $425 per ton.

He said as prices rose by Rs150-200 per ton per 100kg since November 2007, the Indian government without wasting time enhanced the MEP for non-basmati rice to $500 per ton, for which the director general of foreign trade, Government of India, issued a notification on Dec 27.

He urged the ministry of commerce to summon a meeting of all stakeholders and evolve a strategy to benefit from the MEP fixed by Indian policy-makers as our exporters would also be compelled to export value-added non-basmati rice instead of shipping in bulk ordinary milled rice.