April 10, 2009
                     

Pakistan's wheat production in the year to June 2009 will be about 23.3 million tonnes, short of an earlier target of 25 million tonnes, a food and agriculture ministry statement said Thursday (Apr 9).

"There is still a possibility that the final wheat output may be slightly better than the estimate of 23.3 million tonnes, and we will not need to import any wheat," Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Minister for Food and Agriculture, told a news conference.

Pakistan's annual wheat consumption is between 23 million and 24 million tonnes.

Last year, the country harvested 23.6 million tonnes of wheat.

The government has allocated 111 billion rupees (US$1.39 billion) to procure 6.5 million tonnes of wheat, for government stocks, the minister said.