LAHORE, April 25: The Punjab Food Department had procured 325,000 ton wheat till Saturday and hoped that the figure would reach 400,000 ton in a couple of days. This was in addition to 150,000 ton procured by the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) and around 300,000 ton by the Sindh Food Department.

The Punjab Food Department, on its part, is not only hoping to achieve its procurement target quickly, but it is also preparing to increase the target by at least 500,000 ton.

Punjab Food Director Jawad Rafiq Malik claims that the department will easily achieve its target given reports of a bumper crop this season. Private sector has also still not barged in market as it did last year.

Sindh has reportedly procured over 300,000 ton wheat by now, and is well on its way to achieve the target of 500,000 ton. It was able to purchase only 181,000 ton wheat

last year.

He said that wheat price in Karachi was also an encouraging factor, and added that it had been stable so far around support price, which meant that crop size in Sindh was better and the market would remain stable.

Currently, the Punjab Food Department was receiving around 65,000 to 70,000 ton wheat on a daily basis. The quantity would go up to 100,000 ton a day by May 1 and the trend was expected to sustain itself most part of the month, he said.

New weather phenomenon, winds and sporadic drizzles might delay wheat arrival by a few more days, he said, hoping that thrashing process should gain momentum by the end of this month.

According to Mr Malik, 15 to 20 per cent of wheat has been harvested yet, but the crop has not been thrashed. Once the thrashing process gathers momentum, the department will be able to achieve its target quickly, he added.

Talking about the price, he claimed that it had been hovering around the support price in most of the province and was reportedly ranged between Rs390 and Rs405 per 40kg.

Brig Pervaiz Akbar (retired) of Passco says the corporation, on its part, has purchased 150,000 ton wheat from Sindh. According to him, harvesting in 15 tehsils, from where the corporation is entitled to procure wheat, has only been 13.8 per cent so far. Once thrashing gains momentum, Passco should be able to procure 1.2 million ton wheat, he said. He said with the exception of Vehari, most of the province had not gone beyond 15 per cent of harvesting.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has reportedly conveyed to the State Bank an ECC decision of giving 10 per cent cash margin to private sector. The State Bank, in turn, will convey the decision to commercial banks who can then release loans to private investors.