Rice exports crosses 2.734 million tons mark: REAP

KARACHI: Pakistan’s total rice export has crossed 2.734 million tons mark during nine months of current fiscal year, showing a decline of 772,928 tons over last year’s 3.314 million tons.According to rice exports statistics released by QRC Inspection Cell here Wednesday, that the value of rice exports has slipped by $ 123 million to $ 1.507 billion during July 2010-March 2011 compared to $ 1.630 billion same period last year.The export of Basmati rice has surged by 14 % in volume to 786,902 tons and 12 % in value to $ 655.606 million during nine months of 2010-2011.However, there is a decline of 26% in the export of non-Basmati rice in volume to 1.947 million tons while the value also dropped by 18% to $ 851.840 million.The major chunk of exports (2.527 million tons) was shipped from Karachi followed by Quetta (184,190 tons) and Lahore (22,490 tons). – APP