PASSCO to invite fresh bids for wheat exports

Govt has allowed export of 0.5m tons of the commodity

ISLAMABAD: The government has allowed Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) additional export of 0.5 million tons of wheat in order to dispose of its surplus stock and fetch handsome revenue following increase in prices in the international market.

Passco has been granted permission to initiate a fresh bidding process for export of 0.5 million tons of wheat to clear the surplus stock. Earlier, the government had allowed export of one million tons of wheat and wheat products to Passco, Punjab and Sindh.

According to the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Passco and food departments of Punjab and Sindh had procured 0.9 million tons of wheat with carryover stock at 5.942 million tons. Food year 2018 started with a considerable stock of 11.93 million tons.

At present, the stock level is 7.436 million tons, which depicts a considerable surplus. On the request of provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh as well as Passco, a summary was submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on November 16, 2018 with a request to allow export of 3.1 million tons of wheat and wheat products.



Of the total, two million tons would be exported from Punjab, 0.5 million tons from Sindh and 0.6 million tons by Passco.

However, after comprehensive discussions, the ECC decided to allow export of 0.6 million tons by Passco and 0.4 million tons by Punjab and Sindh. It was also decided that freight support for the export of wheat by Passco would be provided by the federal government while Punjab and Sindh governments may bear freight support charges for export from the two provinces.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2019.

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