Manila rice tender: REAP urges govt to make 'serious' efforts towards getting enlisted

Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) has urged the federal government to make some concrete and serious efforts for enlisting in the international rice tender issued by Philippine government.
The Philippines International Trading Corporation (PITC), which is the government procurement company of the Philippines, is in the process of major rice procurement for the country.
However, the PITC has limited the tenders' importing origins. Initially, bids were invited only from the exporters of two countries, ie, Thailand and Vietnam for supply of some 0.3 million tons of Irri-6 for domestic consumption.
As Pakistan and India origin was not included in this procurement process, the Indian government made efforts and now the Indian origin has also been included in the tender, while Pakistan is still out of this race.
Muhammad Raza, Senior Vice Chairman, REAP told Business Recorder that the association has approached Pakistan embassy in Manila for induction in the PITC tender as it's an opportunity for Pakistan to get a G2G contract.
He said Pakistan is already exporting rice to Philippines; however, normally Pakistani rice export to Philippines is subject to a much higher tariff as compared to other ASEAN countries. "We at REAP believe this is a best opportunity for us to enlist Pakistan as an origin and also become part of future government procurements," he added.
As it's the G2G procurement, the PITC will have a budget or a price ceiling for this procurement and keeping in view current global prices, Pakistan may not be able to compete in price with competitors, especially India. He said Pakistan is already making efforts for enlisting in the Philippines international tender for the import of some 0.3 million tons of duty-free rice. However, more serious and concrete efforts are required from the government side to avail this change of induction in the Philippine's international tender.
"This opportunity should not be lost. We can offer Philippines a substantial quantity at lower rate by requesting the government for one-time subsidy for this export to capture Philippines market," Raza added.
If Pakistani exporters successfully get some share in the current tender, in future Pakistan can request PITC and the Philippines government to allocate a quota of minimum 300,000 metric ton to Pakistan as origin, he said.
"Based on this quota Pakistani Rice will have a tariff regime equal to or better than ASEAN countries for this quantity and it will definitely help to earn more foreign exchange for the country," he maintained.
Raza requested Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce, Arif Ahmed Khan, CEO Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and Pakistan Embassy in Manila for more efforts to enlist Pakistan in this tender.
This matter needs to be taken up urgently and PITC should be contacted on highly priority basis to ensure induction of Pakistan origin in the current rice tender.
"The main aim is to get Pakistan enlisted so that we can get an entry into this market and compete with other origins. Once Pakistan inducted in this tender the remaining issues like subsidy, price, supply mechanism and all other will be decided with due consultation of REAP, Trading Corporation of Pakistan and Ministry of Commerce," Senior Vice Chairman REAP said.
Raza maintained that in the current crisis of COVID-19, when the country's most of exports are on decline, Pakistan can earn more foreign exchange by exploring new market for export of rice, which sufficient stocks are available in the country. He informed that Pakistan had earned some $2 billion by export of rice during the last fiscal year, while this year despite several challenges rice export has posted some 5 percent growth in first ten months of this fiscal year.