May 4, 2007

 

Pakistan exports 500,000 tonnes of wheat to India

 

 

Pakistan has allowed export of a surplus 500,000 tonnes of wheat in India, paving hopes to fully penetrate the lucrative Indian market, a senior government official said.

 

Mohammad Ismail Qureshi, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said the export will be carried out by sea and land route through railways.

 

An expected bumper harvest of 23 million tonnes this 2006/07 crop year has Pakistan lift its two-and-a-half year export ban intended to protect domestic supplies.

 

To avert possible supply glut, the country had already exported 800,000 tonnes by private traders and removed a 15- percent duty on exports.

 

The government has set a deadline of June to ship the 800,000 tonnes and deals for up to 400,000 tonnes have been finalised, while a big quantity had also been sold to local flour mills.

 

However, Pakistani traders fear that a delay in releasing additional quantity may prevent them from participating in an Indian import tender, which will be closed on May 10.

 

Last week, Indian authorities issued a tender to buy one million tonnes from overseas market.

 

Najib Balagamwalla, chief executive of Karachi-based Seatrade Group said the government has taken a timely decision to increase exportable quantity, particularly to India.

 

Agriculture officials said the government was holding more than 2 million tonnes of wheat stocks in excess of buffer norms and more arrivals had created a storage problem.

 

Qureshi also said the exportable total would increase as the government planned to export all supplies over and above the domestic requirement of 21 million tonnes.

 

Last month, Pakistani exporters finalised deals to sell up to 25,000 tonnes of wheat to India, the first such sale in memory between the two former military foes. Local traders said around 5,000 tonnes of wheat have already shipped.