Business

Overflowing: Meeting called to discuss how to sell surplus wheat

Provinces fear price crash if unsold stock is not disposed of.

Peer Muhammad March 21, 2015

Sindh authorities have sought a 50% regulatory duty on the import of wheat products aimed at discouraging purchases from overseas markets. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister Secretariat has called a high-level meeting on Tuesday in an attempt to arrive at a decision and resolve the issue of surplus wheat stock.

The meeting will be chaired by the special secretary to the prime minister and will be attended by secretaries of the Ministry of Finance, Commerce, National Food Security and Research in addition to all provincial agriculture secretaries.

A senior official said the meeting would try to find a solution to the unsold wheat stock. This surplus is preventing the provincial authorities and the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) from purchasing the new crop.

Officials of all provinces, particularly Sindh and Punjab, will brief the meeting on the status of wheat stock in their regions. The two provinces have expressed deep concern over the unsold stock at a time when new crop is arriving in the market.

Provincial authorities have stressed the need for a mechanism to handle the surplus commodity and create space for the fresh produce so that the wheat support price of Rs1,300 per maund does not fall sharply over the supply glut.

Earlier on the request of Sindh and Punjab, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had allowed export of 1.2 million tons of wheat with a subsidy of $55 per ton for Punjab and $45 per ton for Sindh.

However even after more than two months, hardly 100,000 tons have been exported due to lower prices in the international market.

In the meeting, the Ministry of Commerce will be asked to step up efforts and export surplus wheat before the procurement of new crop to avoid losses to the farmers.

Sindh authorities have sought a 50% regulatory duty on the import of wheat products aimed at discouraging purchases from overseas markets.

The province has already made this request to the ministry concerned through a letter, but the ministry asked the ECC to impose only 25% regulatory duty on wheat imports.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2015.

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COMMENTS (3)

Solverity | 9 years ago | Reply The Government should create a Strategic Grain Reserve. Wheat production goes up and down because it is dependent on many factors: rainfall, temperature, irrigation, pests, plant diseases. When there is a surplus it should be saved in modern grain-storage facilities, so that in case of a future shortage, there will be enough for the country's needs. Many other countries have done the same. Pakistan must do this as well.

Parvez | 9 years ago | Reply Export our subsidised wheat and make A BUCK....create a shortage and import wheat and subsidise its imports in the name of providing cheap wheat to the people AND MAKE MORE BUCKS. This game has been going on with wheat and sugar for quite some time......is it not time for our so called ' democratic ' government to think of the people.

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