Limited tomato imports from Iran allowed

Islamabad : Owing to high price of tomato in Pakistani market that is being sold up to Rs300/kg (almost $2/kg), the government has allowed limited-time import of tomato from Iran that would reach Pakistan in next four days.

The government is also working on establishing public markets in cities to end the role of middle-man, as they were taking abnormal margins while the common man was suffering.

Iranian tomato would cost Rs53/kg to reach Quetta, after giving permission to its import; the commodity would hit Pakistani market in next three to four days. Besides, this year’s estimates show that its production will be around 40,000 tons more than last year in Sindh.

Sindh province is going to harvest a bumper tomato crop, and it would start reaching the markets in next four weeks, Federal Minister for Food Security & Research, Sahibzada Muhammad Mehmood Sultan said this while addressing a news conference here Thursday.

It’s a seasonal shortage, as in this season the tomato supply from Balochistan ends while the Sindh’s crop takes a few weeks, so this interval between Balochistan and Sindh crop, the shortages emerges for almost a month.

The minister claimed that there is no shortage of wheat in the country, as around 27 million tons of wheat is available in the country.

The Sindh province where the flour price is high than other provinces, was due to the province’s no procurement during the season. The federal government has allowed releasing around 400,000 tons from Passco godowns to Sindh.

The Sindh government had committed with the federal government for procurement of 1.6 million tons of wheat during the season that ended in April, but, for the first time, it did not procure even a single grain.