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Procurement will add
to surplus wheat stocks
ISLAMABAD - Procurement of entire wheat produce of current
Rabi at official price will only add to the surplus wheat
stocks, and ultimately end up in the destruction of a huge
portion of the commodity, food department officials said.
Official sources told Dawn on Monday that the country was
already faced with a huge carry-forward of about four million
tons of wheat with new produce about to hit the market. If the
decision of total wheat procurement was implemented the market
prices would collapse, the sources claimed.
Wheat production target for the current harvest has been fixed
at 19.2 million tons which means the country would be having a
total produce between 22.5 to 22.8 million tons of wheat by
the end of current season. About half of the total to be
consumed by the local population while remaining will be
available for the procurement on official prices through
Passco and other agencies.
No private sector party would dare to take the risk of lifting
a substantive share of the wheat stocks for the purpose of
export owing to various risks involved, the officials said and
added, as such the real market price of wheat in the open
market would not go beyond Rs260 to Rs270 per 100kg.
As a result the government would have to pile up a stock of up
to 11 million tons, about 6 million tons to be available for
export over the next year.
In the meanwhile, the targeted disposal of around 2.2 million
tons surplus wheat, despite involving the private sector with
substantive incentives, has not yet been achieved. Only 0.87
million tons of wheat has been sold out till the end of March
including 0.45 million tons to have been transported to
Afghanistan.
Factors in slow export of wheat to the international market
were seen as the overshadowing of Pakistani wheat by the
established exporters including Australia and India. Moreover,
Iraq and Iran's refusal of importing Pakistani wheat, the
sources said, also was linked to political reasons. Another
factor hindering penetration of Pakistani commodity to the
world exposure are told to be higher rate of $104 per ton as
against Indian wheat which was available at $96 per ton.
Iraqi order cancellation, the source said, was linked to
Pakistan's joining international coalition after Sep 11
incident and even more serious was ex-Basra price of $198 per
ton as against Australian ex-Basra wheat made available at
$125 per ton.
courtesy Daily Dawn, 9
April, 2002
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Pakissan.com;
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