ISLAMABAD: The federal government is unlikely to meet the wheat procurement target of the current year.
Sources said the government has set wheat procurement target of 8.250 million metric tonnes in the wake of wheat flour scam. The public sector has so far procured 431,531 million metric tonnes of wheat from fresh harvest till the last week.
Sources said the provinces as well as PASSCO have procured 0.854MMT wheat since the harvesting of crop, whereas the wheat stock in April 2019 was 3.782MMT.
The government has set 4.5MMT wheat target for Punjab, 1.4MMT for Sindh, 0.45MMT for KP and 1.8MMT for PASSCO.
Sources said Punjab has so far procured 0.140MMT, Sindh 0.205MM, KP 1,200MMT and PASSCO 84,799MMT metric ton. However, the Balochistan government did not procure any wheat so far.
Sources said wheat consumption at the national level is estimated at 26.91MMT, whereas the current wheat stock of 0.872MMT is sufficient to cater the national consumption for 12 days.
Sources further said international wheat price of Hard Red Winter (HRW) is at the level of $228 per tonne equal to Rs1,520 per 40 Kg as compared to value of the local wheat at $210 per tonne (Rs1,400 per 40 Kg) so there is still a price differential of $ 18 per tonne of Rs 120 per 40 Kg.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in its report on April 16 had reported Rs415.54 per 10kg wheat price for old stock or Rs1662.16 per 40kg, whereas wheat price of fresh harvest in the local market is reported in the range of Rs1,300-1330 per 40kg.
It is pertinent to mention here that the wheat crop during the current season has witnessed harsh weather conditions and locust attack due to which production has been affected.
In addition, the government has set Rs1,400 support price for wheat due to which farmers remained reluctant to cultivate this crop.
Currently, wheat is selling in local markets around the Rs1,600 that is negating the PBS statistics.
