Pakistan has only 5.8 million metric tons of wheat stock in the country to cater to the national requirement of 220 million population.
According to a document shared with ProPakistani by the National Food Security and Research Institute, the country currently has a total stock of unmilled wheat of 5.8 million metric tons.
The document shows that Punjab Province, which is the main source of wheat production in the country, has 2.595 million metric tons of wheat in stock, Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation Limited (PASSCO) has 2.188 million metric tons, and Sindh has 0.806 million metric tons of wheat. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province has 159,397 metric tons of wheat stock, and Balochistan has only 49,930 metric tons of stock so far.
The document states that the total stock of wheat was more than 10 million metric tons during the current season. Punjab had 4.943 million metric tons, PASSCO had 3.479 million metric tons, Sindh had 1.061 million metric tons, KP had 502 thousand metric tons, and Balochistan had 49,630 metric tons of wheat stock.
The government has released 4.236 million metric tons of wheat to meet the national requirement during the current season, which started on May 1, 2022. The Punjab province has released 2.348 million metric tons of wheat, PASSCO has released 1.291 million tons of wheat, Sindh has released 255 thousand metric tons, and KP has released 342 thousand metric tons from its respective wheat stock.
The government sector had procured 6.614 million tons of wheat to maintain strategic stock for the current season, the document shows. The Punjab province had procured 4.434 million metric tons of wheat, PASSCO 1.266 million metric tons, Sindh had 883 thousand metric tons, and Balochistan had procured 29,630 metric tons of wheat from local farmers during the season. The country also had 1.831 million tons of carry-forward stock.
It is pertinent to mention here that the federal government has estimated the country will be required to import 2 to 2.5 million tons of wheat to fulfill the local demand. The cost of this requirement is around $1.3 billion, besides handling charges that will be paid in local currency.
The country missed the wheat production target and produced only 26.8 million tons against the total demand of almost 30 million tons for 2021-22 from an area of 8.99 million hectares, which is 2.5 percent lower than the previous year’s production.
According to the official data, the country has imported 1.099 million tons of unmilled wheat worth $460.6 million from different countries during the first four months of the current fiscal year to cater to local demand.
The data shows that the government imported 123 thousand metric tons of wheat worth $52 million in October of this year.
Love the title. Seedha seedha in stock bhi likh saktay thay mgr mirch masalay kai bina aap ka kahan guzara.
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