Surging rice shipments fuel food exports

Pakistan’s raw food exports grew 13.83 per cent to $3.96 billion in July-December 2024-25 compared to $3.48bn in the same period last year, mainly due to increased rice shipments. Exports of foodstuffs have risen for the past 17 months despite unprecedented food inflation. As a result, consumers are paying higher prices because of supply and demand gaps. Official figures compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed that higher rice shipments significantly boosted food exports. In the first half of FY25, rice exports rose by 14.50pc year-on-year to $1.87bn in value. The quantity of basmati rice surged 30.62pc to 416,491 tonnes year-on-year, and its value increased by 18.06pc to $433.82 million. Exports of non-basmati rice rose 13.47pc in value to $1.44bn and 17.35pc in quantity to 2.643m tonnes.