July 1, 2005

Pakistan to import wheat following expected shortage
 

Pakistan's government has announced that it would import one million tonnes of wheat to meet domestic requirements, in spite of earlier government estimates of a bumper crop at over 22 million tonnes for 2004-05.

The government's final estimate for wheat production registered at 21.1 million tonnes. The imports were meant to address expected wheat shortages in the coming months due to recent bad weather that damaged the domestic crop.

The wheat imports were also the government's response to aggressive buying and higher prices offered by the private sector to farmers, which had resulted in the government procuring only 3.9 million tonnes of wheat so far instead of its procurement target at 4.7 million tonnes.

The wheat imports would then help the government keep vital foodstuff prices stable over the near future.