Wheat stocks termed sufficient; prices likely to ease in Punjab

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Country’s strategic wheat stocks currently stand at 8.644 million tonnes, sufficient to meet domestic needs and maintain a demand-supply balance in this food year, officials said on Saturday, while hopes of an ease in the prices of wheat/products strengthened after Centre agreed to supply the staple grain to wheat-deficient Punjab.

“The food year in the country starts from May 1 to April 30 every year and the government has also allowed import of 3 million tonnes of wheat to bridge the gap,” said Dr Imtiaz Ali Gopang, Food Security Commissioner, Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

“Traditionally the government released average 46,300 tonnes of wheat per day, including 25,000 tonnes from Punjab, 10,000 tonnes from Sindh, 5,000 tonnes from Khyber Pakthunkhwa, 1,000 tonnes from Balochistan and 5,300 tonnes from Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supply Corporation (PASSCO).”

Out of the total stocks, about 5.143 million tonnes were available with Punjab, whereas Sindh was holding 933,006 tonnes of wheat, he added.

Pakistan has imported over 0.6 million metric tonnes of wheat during July-August 2022 for building up its strategic reserves and meeting the local demand for the staple grain.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), 622,515 tonnes of unmilled wheat worth $310.764 million was imported during the first two months of the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, a heated conflict between the federation and the most populous province of the country over the provision of wheat has been resolved as the Centre has agreed to provide the province with 0.5 million tonnes of wheat. This would help ease the prices in the province, the market sources said.

The reports quoted food ministry officials as saying that wheat prices had come down from Rs3,800 to Rs3,300, and would drop further to Rs3,000 in the coming weeks. The Federal government’s decision to provide Punjab wheat would discourage hoarders in Sindh, they said, adding that it was hoped that flourmill owners would also cut flour prices.

According to the Food Security Commissioner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have grain reserves of 233,606 tonnes and 29,630 tonnes respectively and over 2.498 tonnes of wheat was available with PASSCO.

Food security commissioner further said that besides the public sector, the private sector had also procured over 3.172 million tonnes of wheat, out of which about 2.003 million tonnes had been milled, adding that private sector reserves were so far recorded at 1.139 million tonnes.

Dr Gopang said the government was taking measures to enhance the area under wheat cultivation by ensuring availability of all agriculture inputs including certified seeds, fertilisers and access to credit.