October 5, 2002	Saturday	Rajab 27, 1423

ISLAMABAD Oct 4: The government is likely to restrain Passco from further wheat export till the arrival of next wheat crop, a senior official told Dawn.

The decision is expected to be decided in a meeting on Saturday to be presided over by Minister for Privatisation and chairman, wheat disposal committee, Altaf Saleem.

The meeting would finalize the wheat policy till fresh crop arrival after taking note of the existing stock availability in the country.

According to the official, the understanding to this effect has already been made in the preliminary meetings held recently in the ministry of commerce; food and agriculture and livestock following the rise in the wheat export resulting in its price hike.

Islamabad has exported 1.6 million tons of wheat between July last year to August 31 this year worth about $350 million. Of these, about 0.7 million tons of wheat was only exported to Afghanistan.

The official further said that the total strategic reserves till the arrival of next wheat crop was estimated at 1 million tons, while the surplus wheat was estimated at 1.5 million tons.

The official said that the surplus wheat of 1.5 million tons could easily be exported, which could have no impact on the local consumption.

The government has allowed the Punjab Food Department to export the 1 million tons surplus wheat lying with them, however, no other province would be allowed to export wheat till the arrival of the next wheat crop, said the official.

The total wheat production was estimated at 21 million tons during the year 2002, while the local wheat consumption was 20 million tons, said the official.

The Punjab food department so far exported around 300,000 tons of wheat through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and was set to export the remaining surplus shortly, said the official.