Pakistan Looking At Direct Dealing With Bernas To Increase Rice Exports

By Nabilah Saleh KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- Pakistan is looking at working directly with Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas) to increase its rice exports to Malaysia, its High Commissioner to Malaysia Masood Khalid said on Wednesday. With the high demand and consumption of rice among Malaysians, Pakistan could boost its exports, surpassing its 148,000 metric tonnes rice exports last year, he said. Pakistan has reviewed its plans, including holding discussions with Bernas and persuading the agency to organise "Buying Missions" to Pakistan to buy rice, said Khalid, who has been Pakistan's envoy to Malaysia since August 2010. "We are engaging with Bernas on a regular basis. Bernas has, so far, led two teams to Pakistan to seal contracts with Pakistani exporters in the wake of floods in Thailand and Vietnam. "Bernas plans to visit Pakistan again in the near future. As a result of our efforts, we are quite hopeful through this engagement," he told Bernama. Bernas, the nation's partner in the domestic paddy and rice industry, is involved in the procurement and processing of paddy, as well as importation, warehousing, distribution and marketing of rice in Malaysia. Pakistan is also frequently meeting Malaysia's Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, said Khalid, pointing out that on Feb 29, Pakistan's Chairman of Trade Development Authority Tariq Iqbal visited Malaysia and met the Minister, Noh Omar, and other senior officials. Pakistan also requested that the Rice Exporters' Association of Pakistan (REAP) persuade their members to export more rice to Malaysia. REAP plays its role in assisting, facilitating and promoting Pakistan's rice business and worldwide exports. Khalid said rice exports, including Basmati and non-Basmati rice, to Malaysia have been on an upward trend over the last three years. A fan of biryani, the envoy said the reason why biryani, especially Pakistani biryani, is superior is due to the high quality of Basmati rice. He noted that rice exports have consistently grown from 43,000 MT in 2009 to 123,000 MT in 2010, registering an increase of 186 per cent. "I am happy to report that exports have further gone up to 148,000 MT last year, growing by 20.3 per cent," he said. Asked whether Pakistan has any specific target for rice exports to Malaysia this year and onwards, he noted that Malaysia's annual import of rice is around one million MT. "However, we were told that Malaysia had negotiated rice contracts worth 0.8 million MT with other countries for the next five years. This leaves us with only 200,000 MT to export to Malaysia on a yearly basis though we would like to export much more than this," he said. He said that considering the exportable surplus after catering for Pakistan's domestic consumption, which is around 2.5 million MT, Pakistan is actually ready to export more rice to Malaysia, subject to the Malaysian government's approval. According to REAP, rice is the third largest crop grown in Pakistan, after wheat and cotton. There are different varieties of rice grown in Pakistan, such as Super Basmati, Basmati PK-385, Irri-6, Irri-9 and KS-282. Pakistan is primarily known for its aromatic rice (Super Basmati/Basmati PK-385). -- BERNAMA