KARACHI, Jan 6: Pakistani rice exports were thin during the past week on high domestic prices, although existing orders were being shipped, traders said on Tuesday.

The market would remain slack until new crop arrivals came on full stream in the second week of January, they added. "The problem we are facing is the high local prices," said Haji Majeed, a rice exporter in Karachi. "High prices have made exports difficult."

Mr Majeed said the market hoped prices would fall in a week or so as arrivals from the new crop accelerated. Pakistan's rice year runs from April to November, but supplies have not yet peaked.

The new crop is expected to yield 4.3-4.6 million tons, with domestic demand at 2.3 million tons. Pakistan expects to export 1.9 million tons in the fiscal 2003-04 (July-June), against the previous year's 1.72 million tons.-Reuters