The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) will hold the secretaries committee meeting within the next two days to finalise the modalities of import of 0.4 million tons of wheat.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday the Minfal secretary, the commerce secretary, the finance secretary, and the industry secretary would attend the secretaries committee meeting. They will finalise the bidding process, specifications of wheat to be imported, and maximum participation of the bidders.
According to these sources, a recent meeting in Minfal discussed all possible measures to ensure the import of wheat at most competitive price. The meeting organised by Minfal in co-ordination with the Trade Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) was chaired by Minfal Secretary Fazul-ur-Rehman, TCP Chairman Abdul Malik, and the wheat experts from the government sector were also present.
Wheat is the staple food item, so the government wants its import on the basis of some certain specifications. In the meeting, basically three issues were discussed; the quality of wheat to be imported, the participation of the maximum bidders, and the next bidding process.
"We have discussed in the meeting that it should consist of 21 percent gluten, 1.5 percent dockage, and should be enriched with protein. The increase in the number of bidders for the next bid will improve the quality of wheat, while increasing the competition. So, in the secretaries committee meeting, the bidding process will also be finalised", sources told Business Recorder. The committee meeting will finalise all these issues discussed in meeting three days before.
Earlier, a senior official, requesting anonymity, told this scribe that the first tender by TCP was to import 0.1 million tons of wheat. "The next tender will be to import 0.4 million tons of wheat", the official added.