ISLAMABAD, July 14: Local rice prices have been firm in the past week due to depleted stocks, but traders said on Monday that market activity would remain dull until fresh crop supplies came fully on stream in September.

“The market is very dull these days. The traders are waiting for new supplies,” said Haji Majeed, a rice exporter in Karachi. “Prices are high only because of low stocks in the market.”

Traders said a few containers were being loaded to carry 15,000 tons of rice to Africa and after these shipments only a few thousand tons would be left in the domestic market for local consumption.

They said depleted stocks had pushed prices up to a point where Pakistani exporters could not match competitors offering Irri varieties from other countries on the international market.

Traders were quoting export prices of $177-$178 per ton for Irri-6. Dealers said 100-kg bags of Irri-6 variety were quoted at Rs950/Rs1,000 on the local market, up from the previous week.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food has forecast domestic output of 4.3 million tons in the 2003/04 crop year, a 1.73 per cent increase over last year’s 4.228 million tons.

Exporters say they are targeting exports of 2.0 million tons in next season, compared with 1.8 million tons the previous season.—Reuters