MULTAN, April 22: The government on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) to immediately stop supply of gram to the open market as its production is expected to fall below the target of 761,000 tons this year.

Passco sources said here that it had stocks of 46,000 tons of gram for domestic consumption. It had procured 90,000 tons at the start of the season at market prices against the intervention price of Rs850 per 40kg.

The ministry of food, agriculture and livestock has forecast a drop in the cultivation area and production of gram by 8 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, for the coming crop, revealed a report prepared by the ministry about the latest crop situation in all the four provinces.

In 2007-08, the gram production is expected to be around 608,000 tons against last year’s 838,000 tons. The local annual consumption of gram is estimated in the range of 550,000 to 600,000 tons. Passco had stocks of 75,000 tons of gram from the last crop, of which it released nearly 44,000 tons in the local market through tenders to arrest the soaring prices.

The government has imposed a ban on the export of gram in a bid to stabilise prices in the local market, which had risen to all-time high levels.

However, as a result of the ban, Pakistan not only lost its international market but the prices also got depressed in the local market.

Gram prices in the local market are hovering around Rs39,000 per ton against international prices of around Rs55,000 per ton.—PPI