The government directed the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) to immediately stop the supply of gram to the open market as production of the commodity is expected to fall below the target of 761,000 tonnes this year, Passco sources said here on Tuesday.
The Passco currently sits on stocks of 46,000 tonnes of gram for domestic usage. Earlier, it had procured 90,000 tonnes at the start of the season at market prices against the intervention price of Rs 850 per 40 kilogram.
The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) had forecast a drop in the cultivation area and production of gram by eight percent and 20 percent respectively for the coming crop, revealed a report prepared by the Minfal about the latest crop situation in all the four provinces.
In 2007-08, the gram production is expected to be around 608,000 tonnes against last year's output of 838,000 tonnes. The consumption of gram in the country is estimated in the range of 550,000 to 600,000 tonnes annually.
The Passco had stocks of 75,000 tonnes of gram from the last crop, of which it released nearly 44,000 tonnes in the local market through tenders to arrest the soaring prices.
The government has imposed a ban on the export of gram in a bid to stabilise prices in the local market, which had risen to all-time high levels. However, as a result of the ban on export Pakistan not only loses its international buyers but prices also get depressed in the local market. Gram prices in the local market are hovering around Rs 39,000 per tonne against international prices of around Rs 55,000 per tonne.
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