Pakistan eyes rice sales to Africa; keen on Iraq

Pakistan expects to ship up to 300,000 tonnes of parboiled rice to Africa in the current financial year on firm demand and will participate in another rice tender in Iraq, an industry official said on Thursday. "We are looking at around 300,000 tonnes going out from Pakistan to Africa in 2009/10," Safder Mehkri, chief executive of Conwill Pakistan Pvt Ltd, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a rice conference.

That compared to just 30,000 tonnes in 2008/09, he said, adding the first shipment is slated this month bound for Nigeria. The world's fifth-largest rice exporter, Pakistan is targeting to export around 3 million tonnes of rice in the current year to June 2010, versus 2.95 million tonnes in the previous financial year.

"We don't see India coming into the export market, Vietnam would take another year or two to come out as a parboiled player. The only player today in the world is Thailand which is very highly priced. So Pakistan has a very good advantage," said Mehkri, also a member of the managing committee of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan.

Pakistan is also keen on joining a possible tender in Iraq after winning a previous one two weeks ago to supply 25,000 tonnes rice. "There is talk that Iraq is coming out in a week's time with a tender, but we don't know for sure whether that's happening or not. Pakistan will be there definitely," said Mehkri.

He said Iraq tendered for 60,000 tonnes rice at a recent tender and ended up awarding about 120,000 tonnes, with the rest taken up by Vietnam and Thailand. Prolonged water shortages are expected to stifle rice production in Iraq this year, forcing one of the world's top grain importers to buy even more abroad. Vietnam has said it will participate in an Iraqi rice tender for 500,000 tonnes of rice. Pakistan will only bid for up to 75,000 tonnes, said Mehkri, if shipment is due between December and February, because it is also waiting for demand from other importers like the Philippines.