Pakistan is likely to import over one million tonne wheat in mid of current year to avoid the expected shortfall and meet the rising demand of the commodity.
Sources, close to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) told Business Recorder on Friday that ministry was consistently monitoring the wheat situation in the country and after receiving initial statistics of wheat production, the import of commodity would start again. They said that ministry had, in principle, decided to further import over one million tonne of wheat for the local consumption.
However, final decision would be taken after the procurement of the wheat by the provinces and Pakistan Agriculture Supply and Storage Corporation. They said that during the next fiscal wheat crisis would not occur, but warned that the country would have to face price issue, which would be solved through huge import of the commodity.
They said that rising price of the commodity in the local market had already compelled the previous government to take notice of the situation and import the commodity on higher price, besides imposing ban on the wheat export.
Following the Federal government''s decision, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has imported over one million tonne of wheat at an average rate of 475-550 dollars per tonne from different countries, including Australia, Russia, Canada, Argentina, Kazakhastan and the US.
However, the imported wheat is much costlier and government is paying some Rs 18-20 per kilogram subsidy on imported wheat to maintain the price of wheat in the local market.
However, the sources said that the import during the current year would be more expensive, as the wheat production worldwide was less than that of the last year''s. Besides, India is also facing a shortfall of some four million tonnes.
At present, the TCP is importing two varieties of wheat together with white and red wheat. However, during the next season, there would be short supply of white wheat and the prices in the international market would soar.
At present, the red wheat prices had soared to 600 dollars per tonne in the world market as compared to 450 dollars per tonne in December 2007 the sources said. They believed that during the current year, the country would have stocks of some 23-24 million tonnes - 22-23 million tonnes of wheat production and some one million tonne imported - as against the consumption of 22 million tonnes, but the smuggling would create some serious problems.
During the last season, there was no production and shortfall issue of the commodity and overall crisis occurred due to the hoarding and smuggling to the neighbouring country, they claimed.
They stressed that new government could resolve the expected wheat crisis through a tight monitoring policy by curbing smuggling, the sources said, and added that it was also likely that the government might delay the import decision for three to four months if the provinces and Passco achieved wheat procurement target and controlled illegal trade of the commodity.