KARACHI: The government’s decision to increase regulatory duty on wheat imports twice this calendar year — once from 25 per cent to 40pc and then to 60pc — has kept the wheat imports zero while managing to safeguard wheat growers.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data, wheat imports remained zero in 2015-16 as compared to 686,650 tonnes imports worth $185 million in 2014-15.

The first month of the current fiscal year also started with nil imports of wheat while there were no imports in July 2015.

A miller said the government had succeeded in protecting the interests of wheat growers by pushing up regulatory duty to discourage imports.

Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt said the regulatory duty would save farmers from the negative impact of wheat imports from Central Asian states and falling prices in the international market.

In a statement, he said, Pakistan already has surplus stock and all efforts to export wheat have backfired. Wheat imports at this stage are against national interest, he added.

He said the federal and provincial governments have almost ten million tonnes of surplus wheat but a large quantity of this stock is under threat due to rains and inadequate storage facilities.

Surplus wheat could not be exported due to low prices despite frequent extension of dates and upward revision in the export rebate which hit almost 90 dollars per tonne, he noted.

The business leader said the federal government allowed Punjab and Sindh to sell 1.2m tonnes of wheat. However, the two provinces could barely manage to sell one third of the target.

Lower prices have cast gloom on wheat exports as only 86 tonnes were shipped fetching just $29,000 in July 2016 as compared to zero exports in same month of 2015.

In 2015-16, wheat exports fell to 1,145 tonnes costing $335,000 as compared to 8,286 tonnes which earned $2.9m in 2014-15.

Pakistan Flour Millers Association (Sindh Zone) said the federal and provincial governments provided rebate to boost wheat exports but it failed due to disparity between international and local market rates.

Currently, only Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could export some wheat as its territory borders Afghanistan. On the other hand, Sindh was unable to export due to global market competition at low rates, the association said.

PFMA said Sindh Food Department’s reserves wheat stocks are 1.4m tonnes of current crop of 2015-2016 plus 0.4m tonnes carryover stocks in hand of 2014-15 crop.

PFMA has suggested the Sindh government to extend 60 dollar rebate as a subsidy on entire wheat stocks of 1.4m tonnes and 0.4m tonnes so that people can get flour on cheaper rate during this season and wheat stocks could be consumed rapidly within the local market.

Flour millers and traders are alarmed over the depressed wheat export scenario in coming months despite additional rebate on surplus wheat.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016