ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema said that now Pakistan is importing wheat worth $ 2 billion annually, at one time, Pakistan used to export wheat.

Addressing press conference here, he said that this time “We have to import 2.6 million tonnes of wheat from Russia, out of which we have received 1.3 million tonnes. He said that government had stored 1.8 tonnes of wheat in strategic reserve last year, which will contain 1.5 million this year. There is no shortage of wheat/flour anywhere in country, “We have wheat in abundance and provinces have also been asked to tell how much wheat they want.”

Tariq Cheema said that shortage of wheat in country and noise about prices is unnecessary and government is ready to face all kinds of challenges. He said that all provinces including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are getting quota wheat and there is no shortage of wheat anywhere in country. He said that Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation Ltd does procurement of wheat and all provinces also deal with it in terms of wheat. Replying to question, he said that efforts were being made to reduce reliance on imported food commodities, and enhance local output of food commodities, including that of wheat and oil seeds as edible oil imports swelled to $ 4.5 billion during last year and wheat imports to $ 2 billion.

He said that it was needed to streamline price differential to maintain prices. He said that last year wheat support price was fixed at Rs 2,200 and this year it was proposed to be fixed at Rs 3,000 per 40 kg.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 14 2023

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