Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday approved Rs 8 per kg subsidy for 150,000 tons black gram whole (desi chickpeas or kala chana) and asked concerned departments to facilitate its import on fast-track bases to help the government plug the demand-supply gap.
The subsidy will not cover other two pulses - masoor and moong - as their availability at comparatively low rate is easier in the international market.
The Prime Minister approved the rate of subsidy for black gram (whole) at a high-level meeting held here.
The private sector will get subsidy on import of 100,000 tons black gram (whole) on first-come-first bases. The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has been assigned the job to import 50,000 tons black gram (whole) from any country of its choice.
Importers depend on Ethiopia, Burma, Turkey and India for import of black gram. Its prices in these countries range between $500 and $550 per ton.
Importers say landed cost of black gram (whole) at Karachi port will be around Rs34. After subsidy, it will be available to consumers at Rs26 per kg.
Black gram crop harvested in April last was short and its shrinking availability pushed the rates upward. The crop was also short world-wide. This year total black gram production stood at only 400,000 tons against consumption of 800,000 tons.
Sharp decline in domestic production not only pushed up rates from Rs22 to Rs34 per kg in the retail market during the last two months but also provided the middleman and investors an opportunity to hoard major portion of the production and wait for offloading for golden days to get irrationally higher profit.
The subsidy claims by commercial importers would be entertained through State Bank after verification, sources said.
Fresh orders for the commodity would be placed in Ethiopia, India and Australia shortly, they added.
"When our consignment reaches here, we would submit the 'bill of entry' to the respective bank, which would provide the details to SBP and would get the verification and claim of subsidy," said Anis Majeed, adviser to Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association (KWGA).
"The previous orders for gram whole by importers were placed at Ethiopia at $500-$550 per ton. But now the commodity is not available due to short crop and can not be imported in large quantity from anywhere," Majeed said.
Sources said that Ethiopian pulse on arrival would cost nearly Rs32.50 per kg, and it is feared that now the commodity would not be available even at $550 per ton and exporters, taking full advantage of short crop, would sell their stocks at $600 per ton.Australian crop (of gram) is harvested in November and the commodity could be imported at around $475 per ton, sources said.
"We had placed last orders for grams in Australia for $560 per ton, but the commodity is not available even for $560 per ton," said an importer.
Masoor and moong case is different from black gram. These pulses are available in the international market at reasonable rates and their estimated domestic production is more than the consumption.
Pakistan's annual consumption of moong and mash is around 120,000 tons and 100,000 tons, respectively. Moong crop will be ready for harvesting next month and experts expect good crop to push Pakistan into surplus from deficit area.
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