Pakistan tugs reins on rice exports

By Sahar Ahmed

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan, the world's fifth largest rice exporter, has imposed a minimum export price to increase earnings and withheld some cargoes destined abroad in order to build a domestic strategic reserve, a senior trade official said on Monday.

Rice accounts for about 8 percent of Pakistan's exports and 1.2 percent of its gross domestic product.

Last week, a minimum price was imposed on different qualities of Pakistani rice exports as large exporters were selling at a cheaper rate especially for contracts signed a year ago.

"This is an opportunity to cash in on our crop and to obtain the best value for the country," Abdul Baseer, Vice Chairman of Pakistan Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) told Reuters on Monday.

"It is also to protect the small exporters."

The minimum export price for Irri-6, the country's cheapest rice, which is mainly exported to East and West African countries, was set at $750 per tonne, whereas Basmati rice, a superior quality rice is exported mainly to the Middle East, Europe and United States, and has a minimum price of $1,300 per tonne.

Baseer said Pakistan did not have a rice shortage, though prices in Pakistan have doubled in the past few months.

High food prices lifted Pakistan's consumer price inflation to 14.12 percent year-on-year in March, the highest in 13 years.