Trade: ‘Pakistan rice exports to rise 28.6%’

HO CHI MINH CITY:

Pakistan, the world’s 12th largest producer, is forecast to export 4.5 million tons of both basmati and white rice next year, up 28.6% from 2011, said Fuad Hamid Garib, a director at Karachi-based Garibsons (Pvt) Ltd Company.  “We have parboiled rice of the same quality as Thai or Vietnamese rice, but the price is about $200 a ton lower,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on Friday. Meanwhile, India, the world’s second-largest rice producer after China, was now offering parboiled rice and white rice at $440-$445 a ton, well under the lowest level of $550 a ton that Thai exporters who have stock could offer, said Korbsook Iamsuri, President of Thai Rice Exporters Association.  “We will follow Indian prices, if India reduces prices, Pakistan will follow.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2011.