Rice Exports From Pakistan May Slump 35%, Group Says
03.09.2010 12:53 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
Rice shipments from Pakistan, the world’s third-biggest supplier, may plunge as much as 35 percent after the deadliest floods in the nation’s history destroyed crops, an exporter group said.
Exports may drop as low as 3 million metric tons in the year started July 1 from 4.6 million tons in the previous year, Malik Jahangir, chairman of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan, said in a phone interview today. Last month he predicted a 22 percent decline in exports.
Rice soared 18 percent in Chicago since June 30 as consumers and investors sought alternatives to wheat after heat and drought ruined Northern Hemisphere crops, and as flooding in Pakistan threatened supplies. About 17.2 million people have lost homes and livelihoods in inundations that killed 1,542 people in Pakistan, according to the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
«Overseas shipments are decided after domestic requirements are met,» Jahangir said. «If the extra rice is not exported, it will go to waste.»
Rice and wheat are the two staples for Pakistan’s people, and the government and international relief agencies are finding it hard to provide food for those affected by the floods. The UN has said damage to infrastructure may hurt farmers for years.
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