Rice export to Indonesia on the cards

Deputy trade minister to hold talks next week.

JAKARTA: Pakistan’s deputy trade minister is scheduled to hold talks next week in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, which will include possible rice supplies, an official said on Thursday.

“On the agenda is to discuss rice import plan and continuation of the preferential trade agreement (PTA) negotiation between the two countries,” Deddy said.

Indonesia is looking to explore rice imports from India and Pakistan along with extending rice import pacts with Thailand and Vietnam.

The statistics bureau in Indonesia – which is the world’s third-largest rice grower but has 240 million mouths to feed – forecast unmilled rice production of 68.06 million tons in 2011.

Indonesia has set itself a goal to be self-sufficient in rice in the next few years. It is expected to push up rice production to 74.1 million tons in 2012.

In late June, Pakistan and Indonesia hit a deadlock in talks on a PTA, which includes a duty cut on palm oil from Indonesia, officials from both countries said.

The two countries have been discussing the proposed PTA for several years but have failed to bridge differences over the granting of tariff concessions to each other on various goods.

Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer along with Malaysia, has been pushing Pakistan to lower its import duty on palm oil to the same level for products from Malaysia.

Under a tariff agreement signed in 2007, Pakistan charges 15 per cent less duty than standard rates on palm oil imports from Malaysia.

Indonesia’s monthly rice consumption is 2.7 million tons and growing. The country’s inflation, which has been steady most of this year, quickened in August to a two-year high of 5.15 per cent, as Ramadan festivities boosted spending from food to travel, even as the UN food agency said global food prices eased last month as weaker oils and dairy prices countered costlier grains.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th,  2011.