KARACHI, Aug 23: A steep fall of over 28 per cent in rice export was recorded during the fiscal 2001-02 as the country could only manage to export 1.287 million tons compared to 1.805 million tons a year ago.

The drastic fall up to 0.518 million tons in rice export resulted in lesser foreign exchange earnings at $352.08 million, whereas during the fiscal 2000-01, the country earned $417.12 million, the figures given by the QRC inspection cell of Rice Exporters’ Association of Pakistan (REAP) indicate.

A major factor for lesser export has been reckoned by exporters to be recessionary trend in the world rice market particularly for coarse rice i.e. Irri-6 and Irri-9 coupled with non-availability of 386 (non-basmati) rice.

The unbalanced cultivation policy adopted by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), resulting in shortage of such varieties which are in greater demand in the world market owing to their cheaper price, also adversely affected exports, a rice exporter said.

The Irri-6 variety mostly cultivated in Sindh was the hardest hit as exporters could not face tough competition from India, China and Vietnam. Its export dropped up to 41 per cent because of high cost in the domestic market.

The shortage of irrigation water also affected the paddy in Sindh, which resulted in lesser production up to 15 per cent over last year. Out of estimated production of 2.1 million tons around 0.75 million tons of Irri-6 have been exported up to June 30, 2002, as against 1.266 tons a year ago.

The higher fob price of Irri-6 at $165 per ton against a cheaper rice being flooded by India at $140 per ton in the world market proved a setback for Pakistani exporters.

Though the quality of Pakistani rice (Irri-6) is far better than Indian quality, after Sept 11 many weaker economies are going for cheaper products and farm produces, a leading rice exporter Zulfikar Thaver said.

Similarly, the Irri-9 variety, which is only cultivated in Punjab, registered a big fall of up to 34 per cent in export. In total only 68,463 tons were exported up to June 30, 2002, compared to 0.104 million tons in the fiscal 2000-01. Nevertheless, there was some improvement in export of super basmati and basmati 385 as the export of these varieties rose by 10 per cent and 26.5 per cent, respectively.

Export of super basmati increased to 0.193 tons (June 30, 2002) compared to 0.175 million tons exported during the fiscal 2000-01. Similarly, export of Basmati 385 surged to 0.217 million tons from last year’s export of 0.171 million tons.

Exporters said that an unexpected strong demand for basmati 385 from a Gulf country had improved exports. However, Pakistani exporters continue to face high fob cost for all varieties of rice as they are unable to compete with Indian, Chinese and Vietnamese exporters, who are flooding the world market with cheap rice.

Mahmood Ghaffar, another rice exporter told Dawn that the fob price for 385 variety came at $480 per ton whereas foreign buyers were demanding it at $450 per ton. Similarly, for super basmati, he said, the fob cost was at $515 per ton but buyers were not ready to pay more than $490 to $495 per ton.