KARACHI, March 20: A three-pronged strategy has been evolved by the government for the export of surplus wheat in a shortest possible time so that sufficient storage space is created before the arrival of new crop, official sources said.
Besides the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), the Pakistan Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) and Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) have been asked to make arrangement for export of wheat out of their stocks.
In a meeting, held recently in Islamabad and presided over by the minister for commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, it was decided that the Passco and the Minfal will enter into open offers with private exporters for the export of around 0.2 million tons of wheat, the sources said.
The government has already fixed wheat export price at Rs8,500 per ton for private sector, and the sources privy to the meeting said that in principle it has been decided that Rs3,500 will be paid- back or refunded to wheat exporters as incidental charges on exports.
According to new arrangement, the Passco and Minfal will supply wheat from their sources to private sector exporters on the basis of ‘Fair Average Quality’ (FAQ). However, they have been asked to ensure that at least 200,000 tons of wheat is exported by June 30, 2002.
The wheat export committee, which has evolved the strategy, was established by the ECC in its meeting of January 12. The committee is headed by Altaf Saleem, Minister for Privatization.
The TCP, which has been instrumental in putting Pakistan on wheat export map of the world, has so far succeeded in physical shipment of around 328,000 tons of wheat, and is expected to export another 116,000 tons of upgraded wheat by the end of next month.
Under new arrangement the corporation has been asked to enter into arrangement with government of Punjab for the export of around 200,000 tons of wheat from their stocks under FAQ basis. However, it would depend upon individual exporters whether they are going to supply upgraded wheat to a foreign buyer or on the basis of FAQ basis.
For this purpose the TCP is going to float tenders in a couple of days inviting private exporters to make offers for wheat export on fob Karachi basis, official sources said. The entire quantity has to be shipped during May to July 2002. However, a bigger task has been given to TCP for export of one million tons of upgraded wheat in a period of nine months starting July 2002 to April 2003. This quantity could also include new crop but again supply will be from the government of Punjab, the sources said.
As the procurement of new crop will start from middle of next month (April 15), and would last up to July 15, the government is keen to see maximum quantity of wheat is exported to ensure storage space for new crop.
The TCP has so far exported wheat to Gulf and African countries, including Egypt, Sharjah, Dubai, Kenya, Yemen, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania. These buyers have shown further interest in purchasing more wheat from Pakistan, the sources said.