RIYADH, Dec 27: Pakistani rice exporters are currently negotiating deals for exporting 70,000 tons of rice to Saudi Arabia. Disclosing this Mr. Mohammad Anwar Mianoor , vice chairman of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), currently heading a 16-member delegation to Saudi Arabia, said that 20,000 tons are being discussed with a Dammam-based rice importer, whereas, they have to negotiate another 50,000 tons with a Riyadh-based importer.

Pakistan has been gradually losing its share in the Saudi rice market because of competition, mainly from India, over the past many years. Saudi Arabia roughly imports around 700,000 -800,000 tons of rice per annum.

Almost 80 per cent of the white rice imported into Saudi Arabia is of Basmati variety. Of this the Pakistani share in the Saudi rice market has gone down to 9 per cent in 2002, from almost 41 per cent in 1992. Once, Pakistan almost had a monopoly of the Saudi rice market, with little competition from elsewhere.

One of the reasons for this steep decline in Pakistani share has been the gradual increase of the parboiled (Sela) rice consumption in the kingdom. According to a survey by the Pakistan Commercial Section in Jeddah, currently 80 per cent of the total Saudi rice imports are of parboiled variety.

The 16-member Pakistani rice exporters' delegation is here to capture the lost market and increase its share of this most important market in the Gulf. This is the second visit of a REAP delegation from Pakistan, the first having visited here in 2001.

In order to achieve their goal, the Pakistani exporters have also set up a number of processing plants in the country, so as to meet the demands of this important market. According to the Pakistani delegation, some 20 such plants have been put up in various parts of Pakistan.

'Pakistan can now offer as much quantity of parboiled variety as is required by the Saudi market, Mr Muhammad Azhar Akhtar, a member of the delegation told the press here. Some of the plants set up in Pakistan for producing parboiled variety is apparently the largest in Asia.

In order to compete with the Indians in the Saudi market, some major exporter houses from Pakistan are embarking on an aggressive marketing strategy. One particular Pakistani export house has earmarked a budget of five million Saudi riyals for promoting its particular brand. The campaign is to begin after the Haj season.

The presentation and packaging of one of the brand, shown to the press here on Monday, also confirmed the sincere desire and effort on part of the exporters to re-establish the Pakistani presence in the Saudi market. The exporter intends to reach 1400 major outlets throughout the Kingdom.

Pakistani rice exporters are also going to participate in a number of exhibitions in the kingdom, in order to generate awareness about the quality of the Pakistani rice in the market.

Besides Basmati and the Parboiled variety, Pakistan for the first time has also started to export Irri-6, Irri-9 and D-98 (PK 198) brands produced in Sindh into the Saudi market, a rice exporter and a member of the REAP delegation told this correspondent.

During their meetings with major Saudi rice importers and in order to improve the image of the Pakistani exporters in this market, the delegation said a quality research council (QRC) has been set up in Pakistan, which restricts rice exporters from sending material other than what is described on documents.

Saudi importers have since long been complaining that exports from Pakistan do not meet the samples approved by them. The delegation underlined the fact that ever since the quality control lab was activated, there has not been a single complain from importers world-wide on the quality issue.

Explaining the procedure, Pakistani exporters told their counterparts in Saudi Arabia that no rice shipment could now leave Pakistani ports without a compliance certificate from the QRC.

And that would only be issued once the quality has been thoroughly verified and a sample of the shipment is kept for three months, so as to take care of any complains in this regard, they told the Saudi rice importers.

The Pakistani exporters emphasised that price-wise they could compete with the Indians in the market easily. They also apprised the local traders that some Dubai-based traders are sending top quality Pakistani rice into this market under Indian brands and inferior quality products are sent under Pakistan brands, creating a negative image of Pakistan.

According to some of the members a significant quantity of Pakistani rice has been reaching Saudi Arabia under Indian brands via Dubai. "The quantity exported via Dubai could be touching our official rice exports to the Kingdom. This has been hurting the image of Pakistan a lot and we are apprising the Saudi importers of this problem here," a delegation member told Dawn.

The Pakistani rice delegation accompanied by the Pakistani Commercial Counsellor in Saudi Arabia, Hijab Gul, would also be visiting Riyadh and Jeddah, after Dammam during their 12-day visit to the kingdom.