"Exporters have been badly hit by a volatile currency market," dealer Khalid Ghori of Mecto Rice Mills said. "This time, the devaluation of the rupee has not helped us because there are fears of another massive devaluation."The central bank adjusted the rupee to 46.00/46.46 to the dollar on June 27 from 44.0500/44.4905 fixed on March 24 last.

The rupee tumbled sharply against the dollar in the open market on fears that the country could seek a moratorium on its external debt worth $30 billion, and fears of devaluation. The difference between official rupee/dollar rate and the open market hit a record of 35 percent last week forcing the central bank to issue directives to currency dealers to halt speculative trading.

Ghori said there were more than 150,000 tonnes of stocks of Basmati riceavailable but stockists were holding them back as they see another devaluation.

"The speculative trading is giving exporters a lot of problems as they are finding it difficult to meet their orders."

Ghori said there was a lot of uncertainty in the market and domestic rice prices were abnormally high.

Pakistan's economy is in crisis. The government blames international sanctions for its nuclear tests in May and dealers said they see tough Times ahead for exporters as the new crop would not arrive before the end of November.