March 7, 2006

Pakistan to decide on wheat export after crop estimates

Pakistan will look into the possibility of exporting surplus wheat after making final estimates of the wheat crop by the end of this month, a senior government official said Monday (Mar 6).

Qadir Bux Baloch, agriculture development commissioner at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said the government will take stock of the latest crop situation by end of March.

"The decision to export wheat or not will only be taken after assessing the crop situation," he said, adding the federal cabinet's committee on agriculture is likely to meet March 30 or March 31.

Baloch's comments came after local media reports that Pakistan is considering exporting surplus wheat because of lack of storage facilities. He said this year's wheat crop target is being set at 22 million tonnes, compared with 21.6 million tonnes last year.

"Latest crop estimate can only be provided after the forthcoming meeting of the committee," he said.

But Pakistani government officials expect the target will be met.

"We are expecting an encouraging wheat crop of 22 million tonnes, that will support the agriculture sector," Akram Sheikh, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, told reporters last week. The country's agriculture sector is not likely to achieve the growth target of 4.8 percent in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Sheikh had said lower agriculture growth is primarily due to lower-than-expected cotton crop of 12.5 million bales this year, down from the original target of 15 million bales and actual production of 14.6 million bales last year.