April 8, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 7: Growers are unlikely to get support price for wheat fixed by the government at Rs415 per 40kg owing to a record stock of the grain available in the country.

Sources told this correspondent that wheat stocks on March 1 stood at 2.779 million tons, over 193 per cent higher than last year’s 0.947 million tons.

Official statistics suggest that wheat sowing area and its production have fallen short of the target despite timely rains and a continuous increase in the support price over the past few years.

Sources said that mainly because of available stocks, the federal committee on agriculture decided last week to announce conservative estimates of wheat production for the current year to maintain a higher price.

According to official statistics, wheat stocks in Punjab stood at 1.854 million tons on March 1, up by about 360 per cent when compared with last year’s 0.403 million tons.

Similarly, wheat stocks in Sindh were reported at 0.322 million tons which were about 91 per cent higher than last year’s 0.169 million tons.

The stocks in NWFP stood at 174,498 tons as compared with 115,656 tons of last year, showing an increase of about 51 per cent.

Moreover, the stocks held by Passco stood at 357,958 tons, compared with 186,688 tons of last year, showing an increase of about 92 per cent.

Only Balochistan’s stocks were lower than last year’s as they stood at 71,435 tons, compared with last year’s 72,966 tons.

Sources said there was no restriction on wheat movement across provinces and districts during 2005-06 and private sector was facilitated for procurement of wheat. The government had decided to allow duty free import of wheat and wheat flour by private sector.

Private sector has made preparations to import one million tons of wheat from various sources, out of which 816,000 tons have reached Karachi.

However, in a recent decision, the government has removed 15 per cent duty on export of wheat flour to ensure better return to wheat growers and stabilize flour prices.

Sources said the area under wheat cultivation in the country had decreased by 0.4 per cent despite three years of continuous rise in support price.

The area in Punjab during the current season was about one per cent less than the target of 6.4 million hectares. The crop condition in Punjab is satisfactory.

However, Sindh has increased the area by 5.7 per cent to 938,000 hectares against a target of 900,000 hectares. Its wheat condition is satisfactory but the prices being offered to growers are much below the support price.