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Wheat issue price to be raised to Rs 380/maund
ISLAMABAD: The federal government is set to raise
the price at which wheat is sold to flour mills to
Rs 380 per 40 kg in the next few months, a senior
official at the food ministry told Daily Times.
At present the government is providing wheat to
flour mills at Rs 345 per 40 kg. The price will be
increased by Rs 40, in phases until September or
October this year, under the wheat cascading
pricing framework of the federal government, said
the official.
The framework had been prepared in the last fiscal
year and is being implemented since then as part
of the conditions of the Asian Development Bank’s
$260 million second-phase agricultural development
loan programme.
The ADB had disbursed $120 million under this
program last year.
The cascading pricing mechanism is aimed at
phasing out the subsidy on wheat supply to flour
mills, and reducing financial losses to Pakistan
Agricultural Storage and Supply Corporation (PASSCO)
and food departments of the provinces, he said.
This framework is also a major factor behind
rising prices of wheat and flour in the open
markets across the country, the official said.
This year, the open market price of wheat had
crossed Rs 450 per 40kg for the first time because
of a shortfall in the production of the commodity
and an increase in its issue price.
He pointed out the new wheat issue price would be
close to the open market price of the commodity.
“By June 2004, the open market price of wheat is
expected to shoot up beyond Rs 400 per 40 kg in
against its existing official support price of Rs
350,” he said.
The official said the open market price of wheat
would start increasing soon after the completion
of the procurement process throughout the country.
“The wheat harvest is at its peak in Sindh, where
the private sector is already offering a higher
price to farmers than the official price of Rs 350
with the aim to buy maximum commodity from the
growers,” said the official. The Sindh province is
expected to produce 2.30 million tonnes wheat this
year, he added.
He said the harvest in the Punjab province is also
set to start in the next few days and it is
expected that like last year the private sector
would offer a better price to growers than PASSCO
and the Punjab food department. In Punjab, wheat
output had been estimated at 16 million tonnes.
The official pointed out that the inter-provincial
Wheat Disposal Committee (WDC) would meet in the
next few weeks to determine the amount of increase
to be made in the wheat issue price to flour
mills.
The committee will also decide the date of
starting the supply of fresh wheat to flour mills
all over the country, he added.
Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, federal minister for
food, agriculture and livestock, will chair the
meeting of the Wheat Disposal Committee and it
will be participated by provincial food,
agriculture ministers and other officials. The
official said since the last fiscal year, the
federal government had already increased the wheat
issue price to mills from Rs 300 to Rs 345 in
phases.
He said that the PASSCO and provincial food
departments bear a cost of Rs 20 per 40 kg, on the
procurement, storage and supply of wheat. This
cost also includes the pay and perks payment to
the entire staff and other related expenditure of
food procurement agencies. The wheat cascading
pricing formula had been devised to cover
expendituresof the food procurement agencies of
the government, the official added.
Daily Times |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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