KARACHI, Feb 15: Domestic rice prices have been firm in the past week and are likely to stay strong in days ahead because of increased orders from African countries, exporters said on Tuesday.

West African demand for Pakistani Irri-6 had jumped in the past few weeks and buyers were placing further orders, they said. High export demand was behind the current price stability in the local market as traders covered their positions in anticipation of bulk Irri-6 exports.

An exporter said exporters had booked cargoes of around 20,000 tons of Irri-6 to Mozambique in the last couple of days and had confirmed orders for another 60,000-62,000 tons. "Demand from Africa will continue to end-March and after that prices and exports will both fall," he said.

In the domestic market, Irri-6 was quoted at around Rs1,320-1,350 per 100-kg bag, higher than the precious week's levels of Rs1,320-1,330. Exporters were quoting FOB Karachi prices at around $240/$245 a ton for Irri-6, around $2 to $5 per ton higher from the previous week. -Reuters