Govt to buy 6.5m tonnes of wheat in 2011

ISLAMABAD – The government has announced that it would procure 6.5 million tonnes of wheat from farmers at an official support price of Rs 950 per 40 kilogram as a bumper wheat crop of 23 million tonnes is expected in the current year. The decision was taken at a ministerial meeting, held to review the existing wheat procurement policy.
The Agriculture Minister Nazar Gondal chaired the meeting, while attendees included Petroleum Minister Syed Naveed Qamar and Minister for Kashmir Affairs Mian Manzoor Wattoo. According to an official source, the meeting decided that private sector would be provided with a level playing field in the procurement exercise. A ban on wheat export would not be imposed before and during the wheat procurement season.
This decision was largely driven by the fact that Pakistan has an exportable surplus of two million tonnes of wheat. Following higher wheat prices in the international market, the government allowed export of wheat and wheat products in December. The private sector lifted 141, 402 tonnes of wheat from Food Department Sindh and 93,000 tonnes from Food Department Punjab for export purposes.
The meeting decided that wheat exports would continue, however strategic reserves of one million tonnes would be maintained in the public sector during the wheat procurement drive. In addition, the government controlled PASSCO would maintain strategic reserves of one million tonnes in all provinces. The committee fixed wheat procurement target for Punjab, Sindh, Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supply Corporation (PASSCO), Khyber Phaktoonkhwa and Baluchistan at 3.5 million tonnes, 1.3 million tonnes, 1.3 million tonnes, 0.4 million tonnes and 70,000 tonnes respectively.
The meeting directed completion of additional storage capacity of 1.3 million tonnes in Sindh and Punjab before the harvest of wheat this year. Pakistan is expected to harvest 23 million tonnes of wheat during this year, while production estimates for Sindh and Punjab are projected at 3.7 million tonnes and 16.5 million tonnes respectively.