ISLAMABAD – Coronavirus lockdown in India gives a drastic boost to PakistanRice Exports.
Pakistan’s rice exports have seen an increase of 59% in their market sharein the Middle East, as India went into a strict lockdown due to thecoronavirus pandemic, reported a media outletlink.
In an interview with Arab News, Muhammad Raza, senior vice chairman of theRice Exporters’ Association of Pakistan (REAP) said that the developmenthas taken place at a time when the country’s other exports havesignificantly declined.
He stated that the Middle East is the main market of India’s basmati rice.“When New Delhi decided to impose the lockdown, the orders were diverted toPakistan,” he noted.
Pakistan’s exports plummeted during April on the back of the pandemic,which forced businesses to suspend their operations due to the low demandand disruption in supply chains.——————————
Exports witnessed a massive decline of 47.24% in April 2020, with theirvalue dropping from $1.81 billion in the previous month to $957 million,according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
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According to provisional data, the country’s rice exports to the MiddleEast increased by 59 percent to $420 million in April 2020 mainly due tothe increasing demand for long-grain rice in the United Arab Emirates,Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and other regional countries stated thereport. The export of basmati rice increased by 33 percent and overall riceexports surged by seven percent during July-March 2019-20 period, accordingto the PBS.
Commodity experts say the demand for Pakistani rice in the Middle East andother countries is due to the measures taken by other governments tomaintain sufficient food stocks to ensure the uninterrupted supply duringlockdowns and quarantines.
“The country has more than 3.3 million tons of exportable surplus and thereis no shortage of grain in Pakistan,” said the vice-chairman of the RiceExporters’ Association of Pakistan.
Pakistan is among the top 10 rice-producing countries in the world. Theproduction of rice is expected to remain stagnant at 7.2 million tons inthe current fiscal year (FY20), according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
