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Pakistan to benefit if UAE diversifies rice import
21.09.2010 14:59 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
Pakistan can take advantage of exporting rice to the United Arab Emirates if it reduces imports from India, but competing Thailand will remain a challenge, an exporter said on Thursday.
«India banned non-basmati rice exports in 2008 and the situation has forced the UAE to look to other countries, beyond India,» said Shams Ul Islam, a rice exporter in Karachi.
According to Reuters, a study of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade has suggested the government to diversify its rice imports to avoid a drop in supply as the lion’s share of the grain is being bought from India.
Last year, the UAE imported around 72 percent of rice from India, 21 percent from Pakistan and six percent from Thailand, it said. «[There’s] an importance of avoiding the risks of relying on India and increasing Thailand’s share,» it added.
But increasing market share, in the presence of Thailand, remains tough nut to crack for Pakistani exporters as Thai Jasmine Rice has become quite popular, especially among the UAE workers.
«We can’t beat Thailand in non-Basmati exports, we are Number 3 in quality after Thailand and Vietnam,» Islam said.
But the UAE study has a ray of hope for Pakistani rice exporters also. According to the study, the UAE grew more reliant on Indian rice from 2005 to 2009, at the expense of Pakistani rice, while Thailand’s share remained the same.
Like many Gulf countries, the UAE imports most of its food due to extreme heat and limited freshwater supplies that limit crop output.
Last year, the UAE imported 8.8 million tons of the water intensive grain, a five percent increase compared to the previous year, the study quoted by Reuters said. Gulf-based traders say that rice exports from Pakistan will drop significantly this year after the worst floods in decades damaged about 700,000 hectares of crops, Reuters said.
Pakistan earned $2.4 billion by exporting 4.6 million tons of rice last year and exporters have expressed hope that exports will remain three million tons this year. «Rice production in the country may remain short of the target, but even then we have enough carryover stocks to meet export demand,» said Islam.
He said that harvesting of rice crop got delayed in Sindh due to floods, but it was in full swing in Punjab. «We are already exporting rice and we will continue to do so,» he said.
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