KARACHI: Pakistan’s rice export (basmati & non-basmati) registered a decline of around a 30 percent in quantity and almost 11 percent decline in value during the period of July-November 2022 as compared to the corresponding period of July-November 2021.
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According to multiple data available online, Pakistan witnessed a volume-wise decline of 44 per cent in Basmati rice exports during the July-November 22 period as compared to the same period.
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Senior Vice-Chairman of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Haseeb Khan was quoted as saying that while in the same category and in the same period, a decline of 22 per cent was recorded in the value of the commodity. Similarly, non-basmati varieties registered a decline of 12 per cent in volume and five per cent in value during the same period.
Experts said export was hit hard due to a 40 percent decline in long grain (non-basmati) crops in Sindh due to unprecedented recent floods, every increasing value of the greenback against the Pak rupee coupled with a huge gap between its value in the interbank against the open market rates. Likewise, basmati rice which is surplus in Punjab is being hoarded by the stockiest pushing the prices skyrocketing for the commodity.
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During the period mentioned above Pakistan exported 210,184 metric tons of basmati rice (July-November 2022) against the export of 302,771 metric tons in the same period of the corresponding year 2021.
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While Pakistan exported 1.1 million tons of non-basmati rice during the period July-November 2022 against 1.235 million tons in the corresponding period of 2021.