By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to import 300,000 tons of wheat at $372 a ton from Russia in a government-to-government deal as it battles to secure supplies after devastating floods in summer damaged the country’s strategic food stockpiles.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of Cabinet, headed by the finance minister Ishaq Dar, on Monday approved the plan proposed by the ministry of commerce to procure wheat from Russia
Prodintorg, Russia’s state-run grains trading firm will be the supplier of milling wheat to Pakistan and cargoes are expected to be shipped between November 1 and January 15. The government also said, Prodintorg is not an internationally sanctioned entity as of October 31, 2022.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has already been signed by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan and Prodintorg for the supply of wheat under a government-to-government deal.
The government has planned to import 3 million tons of wheat to meet annual consumption of 30 million tons after the country harvested 27 million tons of wheat in 2022 crop year against a target of 28.89 million tons.
State-run TCP had imported one million tons of wheat and another 1.6 million tons is being arranged.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the private sector would not be allowed to import the wheat to make it possible to get it at minimum price.
“We have decided not to allow the private sector to import wheat,” Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.
“The government needed to save on its depleting foreign reserves.”
Meanwhile, the highest economic decision-making body also approved a 63 percent raise in the sales margin of oil marketing companies on petroleum products.
The new margins have been set at to Rs6/litre from the existing rate of Rs3.68/litre on motor gas and diesel.
The ECC, however, said the new margins will only be applied after the next price review and subject to fiscal space in POL prices.
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