The government is likely to extend export period of wheat till March 31, 2017 on the recommendations of governments of Punjab and Sindh along with approval for Sindh to export an additional quantity of 0.2 million tons, official sources told Business Recorder.
Giving details, sources said that the ECC of the Cabinet in its meeting held on December 13, 2016 approved the proposal of export of wheat and wheat products with accumulative rebate of $ 120/- per ton to be shared by the federal and provincial governments. The export was allowed till December 31, 2016 and export process to be completed by February 28, 2017. The wheat export was allowed on the same terms and conditions already approved by the ECC in the meeting held on July 26, 2016. The quantity allowed to be exported was 600000 tons for Punjab and 300000 tons for Sindh.
The sources said, due to lower trend of prices in the international market the Food Departments of the government of Punjab and Sindh could only export 379757 tons and 238000 tons against the allocated quantity of 0.6 and 0.3 million tons, respectively.
Considering a huge leftover stock the government of the Punjab through a letter has requested for extension in export period up to March 30, 2017 or till the exhaustion of the balance/allocated quantity of 0.6 million tons. Similar letter from Food Department the government of Sindh has also been received requesting permission to export an additional quantity of 0.2 million tons wheat in addition to earlier allocation of 0.3 million tons with extension upto January 31, 2017, the sources added.
The current wheat stock position indicates that at the end of Food Year (on May 1, every year) a quantity of 9.923 million tons was available with PASSCO and Provincial Food Departments. However, with the passage of time and releases, the current stock is at 7.783 million tons. The said stock is much more than the strategic requirement of the country and around 3.5- 4 million tons is projected as surplus or leftover stock.
Considering the requests of Governments of Punjab and Sindh and to create physical and fiscal space for new wheat crop 2016-17 the Ministry of National Food Security and Research has recommended an extension in export period of wheat and wheat products flour (Aata), fine, Suji and Maida) till March 15, 2017 and export process to be completed till May 31, 2017 with permission to export an additional quantity of 0.2 million tons to Food Department, the government of Sindh. The terms and conditions would be the same as earlier decided by the ECC in the meeting held on December 13, 2016.