Food ministry committed to facilitating wheat importers

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Food Security and Research on Friday said that it will facilitate wheat importers in order to meet the domestic demand for wheat.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, taxes and duties on wheat imports, including a 60 per cent regulatory duty, 11 per cent custom duty, 17 per cent sales tax and a 6 per cent withholding tax have been abolished.

Moreover, imported wheat will be exempted from the Anti Hoarding Act imposed by the provincial governments on the production of verified import records by the importer. In this regard key decisions were taken in the Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) recent meeting.

Similarly, the Sindh government has also waived off a 1.25 per cent charge on the value of imported wheat. 

Furthermore, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would also arrange an inter-bank dollar exchange cover for wheat importers, in line with what is provided to other industries. 

Price mechanism for imported wheat will be considered, in a meeting to be held between importers and the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue.

Up till now, in compliance with an earlier decision of the ECC the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) has issued import permits to the private sector in two phases. 

The Ministry of National Food Security and Research has constituted a monitoring committee to look after issues pertaining to the import of wheat. 

The committee is headed by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research additional secretary and has representation from the Wheat Importers Association.