Govt to buy multi-billion rupee rice to 'build strategic reserves'

[Naveed Yaseen]

planned to bail out rice growers
By Aftab Maken
ISLAMABAD: The government will procure rice from selected rice mills at the announced price for building strategic reserves, a senior government official told The News on Tuesday. “The step has been taken to facilitate paddy growers,” he said.

Rice mills in paddy-growing areas will now purchase paddy from the growers, husk it and then sell to Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) for operation, confirmed rice commissioner when asked for comment on the issue.

PASSCO will purchase rice from the mills at Rs1,500 per 40 kg for Irri and Rs3,000 per 40 kg for Basmati variety, he added.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), in its notification last week, directed PASSCO to procure paddy from the growers at the rate of Rs700 for Irri and Rs1,500 for Basmati.

Another official said that PASSCO would procure maximum produce from the millers if they want to sell to the Corporation as the government is determined to safeguard the interest of growers.

Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) has also assured the government that if it (the government) wanted to sell the procured commodity to the association, they would purchase it at the procured price along with incidentals, the same official said, adding that the government can also export rice itself.

Regarding the availability of liquidity for commodity operations, the official requesting not to be named further shared that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has already released Rs31 billion while MINFAL has requested for more liquidity and hopefully, the central bank will release it very soon.

Both the government and REAP wanted to grab more basmati share in the international market, “that is why we are doing our utmost to ensure guaranteed minimum price (GMP) of the produce,” the same official said.

Pakistan is to harvest over six million tonnes of paddy with one million tonnes extra for export while the remaining will be consumed locally.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=144853