UNISAME URGES SMEDA TO BUILD CAPACITY OF RICE SECTOR

Issues of rice industry discussed….Financial Daily
KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) held a special meeting yesterday at SMEDA
Karachi office presided by Alamgir Chaudhry general manager (GM) outreach to discuss the issues of the rice industry and recommend measures to revive the sector on fast track basis before the arrival of new crop to facilitate the stakeholders, says a Press release.
President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver invited the attention of the GM SMEDA that the SME rice
farmers, millers, processors and exporters are in turmoil and more than 1000 SME units are closed due to lack of demand from overseas buyers who have become very cautious in placing orders because of down slide in commodities.
They are waiting for the prices to stabilize to place fresh orders. This lack of overseas demand is reflecting on the entire rice sector as unlike wheat, rice is an export commodity. As wheat is our staple crop but domestic rice consumption is much less than our exports and all varieties of rice are being exported to global buyers. The rice exports are next to textiles and need the immediate attention of the policy makers. There is urgent need to regain lost markets for the rice industry to survive.
Secondly our rice is become noncompetitive as Indian rice is cheaper due to subsidy support from government.
Thirdly we have neglected research and development (R&D) on seeds to produce grains with less
cost of production. The R&D side needs to be taken very seriously. Our super basmati rice which
is our heritage is suffering a setback due to lack of R&D and we cannot afford to lose our share of
basmati in world markets.
Every aspect of basmati inclusive of packing, promotion, branding and marketing. Also GI and Trade Mark ownership needs our immediate attention and needs immediate attention of the
Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) on priority basis.
Other factors which are a setback are lack of finance for exports to third
world countries and low premium insurance is unavailable.
The banks are not inclined to accept documents for negotiations for goods shipped to Iran and as such transactions with Iran are at a standstill. The ministry of commerce needs to work overtime to expedite the agreement with Iran and the matter needs immediate placement in the cabinet for prompt approval.

Posted in: Press Releases