Pakistan- Rice exports exceeded by $2 billion

KARACHI: Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) declared that Pakistan rice exports exceeded by $2 billion mark for the financial year ended 2017-18.

Pakistan’s rice is amongst the best rice in the world, previously in FY15 rice exports of Pakistan surpassed the $2 billion mark and the trend has always showed continuous improvement. However, Pakistan is accomplishing its export target of 4 million tons.

An increase of 29.15 per cent in rice exports was registered during 11 months of the current fiscal year as about 3.842 million metric tons of rice worth $1.889 billion was reported to have been exported during this period.

ALSO READ: Increase in worth of Rice Exports- US$ 1.889bn in 11 months of FY 2017-18

According to the data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the export of rice was recorded at 3.889 million metric tons valuing $1.463 billion during the same period last year.

During the period from July-May FY18, 461,472 metric tons of basmati rice worth $478.853 million was exported against the exports of 406,824 metric tons worth $385.746 in the same period last year.

In last 11 months of the financial year 2017-18, basmati rice exports grew by 24.14 per cent as compared the exports of the corresponding period of last year, the data further added. The official data for rice exports will be provided in July’s third week.

The rupee faced three rounds of devaluation in last six months to touch Rs121.50 on June 26^th, 2018 from Rs110.42 a dollar on December 30^th, 2017.

According to TDAP report, increase in exports is mainly due to rupee depreciation and the central bank watch on dollar trading movements, the main donor for hike in exports including rice and related products.

However, after the remarkable exports count of over $2 billion in FY15, the exports declined eventually in FY16 & FY17 by $1.86 billion and $1.61 billion respectively.