KARACHI, May 28: Pakistan has revised its wheat output estimate to 19.7 million tons from a target of 20 million for the current 2003-04 crop (Nov-April) due to bad weather, Agriculture Minister Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind said on Friday.

He told Reuters the dry summer in central Punjab, which produces over 80pc of the country's wheat output, had hit yields and the total might slide further. "The soaring temperature during March and April had affected crop in parts of Punjab," Mr Rind said from Islamabad.

"There was a less-than-targeted harvest last year and this year the crop will again be short by 300,000 to 500,000 tons." Pakistan harvested around 19.25 million tons last year, 500,000 tons less than the target of 19.75 million.

Mr Rind said the latest estimates by the agriculture ministry suggested that output this year would not exceed 19.7 million tons. He said the authorities would make a final crop assessment in the third week of June.

"The stress factor is still there and it could further reduce the size of the crop and yield per acre," Mr Rind added. Supply had already been disturbed supplies in the domestic market of a little over 20 million tons. The fall in yields had prompted the government to import one million tons of wheat to build a reserve buffer stock.

"We need extra supplies because our reserves have fallen down to half a million tons," he added. Pakistan unveiled a second import plans on May 18, little more than three months after cancelling previous import plans.

Late last year the government announced plans to import about 500,000 tons of wheat, saying it needed to build up its strategic reserves, and the Australian Wheat Board won a tender to supply 150,000 tons of this amount.

But in February the government shelved plans for further imports when the agriculture ministry estimated the country already had stocks of at least two million tons.

Mr Rind said the planned wheat import was expected to start from the second week of June and state-run grain bodies, the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation or the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, would issue tenders. "The whole process would be completed in three or four phases in two months," he added. -Reuters