KARACHI: Two vessels Densa Jaguar and Scarlet Lady carrying 52,500 and 63,000 tonnes of wheat, respectively, were berthed at the Karachi Port and Port Qasim on Friday, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) said.

With the arrival of these two vessels, the TCP has so far imported a total of 391,625 tonnes of wheat into the country, the press release said.

The TCP began importing wheat from September onwards whereas the private sector had initiated imports from the last week of August.

Data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed that the country has imports around 898,904 worth $214 million tonnes of wheat into the country between the July to October. The average per tonne price of imported wheat was $238.

However, consumers have so far not witnessed any big relief despite massive imports of wheat by the private sector and the government as flour millers in Sindh had cut price of various flour varieties by just Rs7 per kg in the last week of October.

A number of retailers are, however, still selling various varieties of flour at Rs70 per kg.

Cereal Association of Pakistan Chairman Muzzamil Chappal said the private sector had so far imported 1.2 million tonnes of wheat from Ukraine, Russia and Germany which at least helped in containing further hike in flour prices.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2020