USC urges govt to provide it wheat stock

Suggests that commodity may be supplied through PASSCO or import

ISLAMABAD:

The Utility Stores Corporation (USC) has requested the government to provide it 50,000 metric tons of wheat on urgent basis as the wheat stock allocated to the government owned chain of stores is about to come to an end.

According to sources in the USC, the organisation has written a letter in this regard to the Ministry of Industries and Production, urging the ministry to supply wheat either through the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) or by importing the commodity.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly was informed on Tuesday that the government has extended a subsidy of Rs30 billion to consumers through the Utility Stores Corporation (USC).

Responding to a calling attention notice, Parliamentary Secretary for Industries and Production MNA Aliya Hamza Malik said the prices of essential commodities including ghee, rice, pulses, flour and sugar remained constant at the utility outlets from February 2020 to 27th July 2021.

She said that USC was bearing the financial losses when the PTI government came into power. She said that today the USC has been made as a profitable department as well as its sales have also increased.

READ Subsidies on key USC items withdrawn

The USC provides basic commodities at subsidized rates to the general public and a 20kg bag of flour is available at the facility at Rs950 under the Prime Minister’s Package.

The federal government on June 26 decided to extend the subsidy on five essential commodities at the USC for another six months. It also decided to set the subsidy price of cotton and increase the price of tobacco to control inflation.

Subsidy on five essential items was likely to be extended from July 1 to December 31 this year.

According to a report published in The Express Tribune on June 21, Punjab province – the biggest producer of wheat –might have to import wheat to meet its needs and maintain strategic reserves despite achieving the minimum procurement target.

The provincial food department was facing a shortage of about 800,000 metric ton of wheat, the report claimed, while quoting sources. The official data showed that the department was able to procure 3.69 million tons of wheat from farmers by the conclusion of the procurement drive on June 15 against the year’s maximum target of 4.5 million tons.