Wheat traders urge govt to allow private imports, reject TCP-led purchase

Wheat traders have opposed importing wheat through the state-run Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), urging the federal government to instead allow subsidy-free imports by the private sector, in line with its own deregulation policy, to avoid losses to the national exchequer.

The Cereal Association of Pakistan (CAP) has asked the government to keep the import policy open, transparent and non-discriminatory, giving all eligible importers equal access without restrictions or cartelisation. 

CAP Chairman Muzammil Chappal said a competitive, fair import mechanism would ensure adequate supply and maximum benefit for consumers.

The private sector's push comes as the federal government moves toward importing wheat itself. According to Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research Rana Tanveer Hussain, the government has decided to import one million tonnes of wheat following requests from the provinces, marking the first official acknowledgement of a supply shortage for the 2026-27 marketing year. 

Earlier, Punjab had sought one million tonnes from federal reserves held by the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO), while Sindh had requested at least 220,000 tonnes, according to The Express Tribune. 

According to senior government officials, the country may need to import between 500,000 tonnes and one million tonnes if provincial allocations exhaust the 1.7 million tonnes currently held by PASSCO. 

Sindh has also sought between 220,000 and 700,000 tonnes from Punjab and asked it to ease border controls to facilitate wheat movement — a request Punjab declined, citing its own supply management difficulties. 

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has sought around 100,000 tonnes for the public sector and another 700,000 tonnes for private-sector use, in addition to requesting locally produced wheat.

The shortages follow the withdrawal of the wheat support price two years ago under an IMF condition, without an alternative mechanism put in place, while Punjab and Sindh procured substantially less wheat from farmers this year.

CAP has proposed a two-phase private import plan: immediate approval for two million metric tons in Phase-I, followed by an additional two million metric tons in Phase-II, subject to market conditions and supply requirements. 

The Association has already formally requested the federal government to permit the import of four million metric tons of wheat under an open, transparent policy.

Chappal said past state-managed procurement has repeatedly caused heavy financial losses to the national exchequer, citing roughly 450,000 tonnes of three-year-old wheat still held in PASSCO stocks. By contrast, he said, the private sector imported 2.7 million tonnes of wheat in FY23-24 without using any public money or subsidies, stabilising domestic wheat and flour prices and improving supply chains at no cost to the exchequer. 

He noted that wheat prices stood at Rs123 per kg before that private import and fell to Rs95 per kg afterward.

Chappal said the government had announced complete deregulation of wheat imports two years ago, with no state intervention, and urged it to honour that commitment now. Wholesale wheat prices in Karachi currently stand around Rs120 per kg and could peak at Rs125 per kg, he said, estimating that unrestricted private imports linked to international market trends could bring prices down to Rs95-100 per kg.

"Unrestricted commercial imports allow market forces to stabilise domestic supply dynamically while shielding the government from procurement risks, storage losses, and subsidy burdens," Chappal said, warning that any delay in permitting imports could worsen the wheat shortage, escalate prices further, and add to hardship for consumers across Pakistan.

He added that the timing is favourable for imports, as the Black Sea and South America harvest season begins in July and August, offering competitive international prices. Timely approval, he said, would allow Pakistan to benefit from lower global prices, reducing the overall cost of imports and ultimately benefiting consumers.