ISLAMABAD- Indonesia’s state food procurement agency Bulog on Friday boughtabout 150,000 tonnes rice from Pakistan, European traders said.

The purchases were made in direct deals negotiated without internationaltenders being issued.

Some 45,000 tonnes of 5 per cent broken grade rice was bought at about $460a tonne c&f and 105,000 tonnes of 15pc broken grade was bought at about$450 a tonne c&f, they said.

All the rice is for shipment from May to July.

Traders had previously said Bulog had been seeking offers for only 50,000tonnes of Pakistani rice.

“I think the deals show that Indonesia’s import requirements remain largedespite several large recent purchases,” one European trader said.

Bulog said on March 20 it planned to import a total 500,000 tonnes of riceup to the end of June to improve local supplies and cool domestic prices.

Bulog also bought about 500,000 tonnes of rice to be sourced from Vietnamand Thailand, traders said on March 29.

Bulog also bought about 50,000 tonnes of rice from Pakistan on March 21 forshipment up to May 31.

Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Senior Vice-Chairman ofRafique Suleman said that the deal will likely to fetch $70 million foreignexchange.

He said the eight Pakistani exporters who were awarded the contract includeGaribsons (Pvt) Ltd, Hassan Ali Rice Export Compnay, Meskay & FemteeTrading Company (Pvt) Ltd, K.K. Rice Mills (Pvt) Ltd, M.M. Commodities, AlHamza Trading Company, Conwill Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd and Kangore Traders.

Mr Sulman, who is heading a delegation to Indonesia, said that the awardingof a big rice contract to Pakistani exporters shows that the Bulog has fullconfidence in the private sector.