Pakistan wheat output seen to fall

Pakistan, Asia's third-largest wheat producer, will harvest 23.87 million tonnes of wheat this year, said farm minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal.

The country will export wheat after this year's harvest as stocks of two million tonnes from last year may exceed demand, Nazar said. Farmers gathered 24.03 million tonnes of the grain in 2009.

Shipments by the South Asian nation may add to losses in global prices of the food staple. Wheat has tumbled 29% from last year's high of US$6.77 a bushel in Chicago amid increasing world supplies.

Meanwhile, Pakistan wants to boost farm output, which accounts for a quarter of its gross domestic product, after wheat shortages in past two years caused nationwide riots.