WEB DESK
With the government expecting a shortage of wheat in the coming months, it approved the import of around 450,000 metric tons of wheat from Russia and an additional 130,000 mt of wheat from another source over the next four months.
This was decided during a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet chaired by Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Others who attended the meeting included Federal Power Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Industries and Production Minister Syed Murtaza Mahmud, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha, SAPM on Government Effectiveness Dr Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, Federal Secretaries and other senior officers attended the meeting in person.
Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik, Coordinator to PM on Commerce and Industry Rana Ihsan Afzal and Governor SBP, MD PASSCO joined the meeting virtually through Zoom.
During Monday’s meeting, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research submitted a summary for the Award of Seventh International Wheat Tender 2022. The tender opened on November 30, 2022, and bids were submitted.
Keeping in view the results of the tender and offer to complete it on a government-to-government (G2G) basis, the ECC approved the lowest bid received from M/s Cereal Crop Trading LLC to acquire and supply 130,000 MT of wheat at the ports in Karachi at a rate of $372 per MT.
These shipments will arrive in Pakistan from December 16, 2022, to February 8, 2023, and will cost Pakistan a whopping $48.36 million.
The ECC also approved a second bid from Russian firm M/s Prodintorg to supply some 450,000 MT on a G2G basis to Pakistan at the Gawadar Port at a competitive rate of $372 per MT.
These stocks will start arriving in Pakistan from February 1, 2023, to March 31, 2023, and will cost Pakistan a total of $167.4 million.
It was decided that any additional cost on inland transportation from Gwadar Port will be borne by the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to be recovered from provinces at the time of the release of wheat stock.
The ECC also approved a proposal of the Finance Ministry to change the title of the revolving fund account for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Independent Power Producers from “Pakistan Energy Revolving Fund” to “Pakistan Energy Revolving Account”.
