ISLAMABAD: The government Friday said there would be a substantial decrease in wheat and sugar prices in the days ahead with the arrival of imported commodities. At a joint news conference with Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said that the government has imported more than 100,000 tons of sugar out of which 40,000 tons has been released at controlled rate.
Azhar maintained that the retail price of sugar would decrease by Rs15-20 per kg compared to the current market price. Additional 50,000 tons will reach at Karachi port in next few days, the minister added.
He said that the sugar mills have also committed to start the crushing season early as decided with the Punjab government, which will also help reduce prices of sugar in the domestic market. The minister said the import price was quite reasonable and "we approved the bidding through a competitive process".
He said the government has recently relaxed power tariff for industries and this measure is widely appreciated. He further said that the power tariff for industry was more than Rs17 per unit, which has been reviewed and revised accordingly.
Our industrial sector is performing better, fertiliser, tractor, cement, construction, export, large-scale manufacturing is going better as compared to last year's performance. This will help increase employment, tax receipt will increase, and this will help grow the economy.
Talking about wheat shortage, Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam said that the government has started to import wheat after 10-12 years because the wheat was harvested in April 2020. The minister said that the 25 million ton crop production was almost 18-20 lac tons less than the country's requirement.
The minister said as the international parity price was higher than Rs1,400 per 40kg minimum support price of the country, which led to gradual increase in domestic prices. The government procured 6.6 million ton wheat, Punjab procured four million ton and Pasco purchased 1.2 million, Sindh 1.25 million ton, and Balochistan one million ton, and a small amount was purchased by the KP.
Since July 7, the Punjab government decided to release 17,000 ton per day. Sindh government procured 1.25 million ton against the target of 1.4 million. Syed Fakhar Imam said 1.8 million tons of the food staple in total will be imported till January next year.
He said the private sector has imported 220,000 tons of wheat so for. We have decided to release 40,000 tons in the market to keep the prices stable. We found that the prices did not increase due to the shortage of wheat but because of hoarding. The Punjab government is giving a Rs5 billion subsidy to maintain price stability.
They have fixed the price as Rs1,475 per 40kg. Replying to a question, Shibli Faraz said the government did not have any intention to privatise the Pakistan Television but to restructure it. He said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was making efforts to changing Pakistan on the model of Riyasat-e-Madinah, despite all the hurdles and difficulties. To another question, he said the government was dismayed at the incidents of violence in the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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