SINGAPORE, March 24: Pakistan will not seek replacement wheat imports for four Australian cargoes it rejected on quality grounds, the head of the country's state-run grain storage firm told Reuters on Tuesday.

"There is no need to seek fresh cargoes. Our wheat harvest is just starting and the crop is expected to be good," said Fahim Akhtar Khan, managing director of the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco).

The month-long uncertainty over the fate of the cargoes - totalling 150,000 tons - ended after the last cargo was sold to Indonesia on Tuesday. Three cargoes had already sailed during the weekend - two for Sri Lanka and one for Dubai.

Pakistan rejected the four cargoes over the last month, saying they were infected with karnal bunt, a claim denied by AWB Ltd, Australia's monopoly wheat exporter. The fungus is not harmful to humans but gives off a bad smell.

Mr Khan added there were enough stocks of wheat in the country and no shortage was expected, even without more imports. Tradesman International, a Pakistani trading firm, had bought the cargoes from AWB and had agreed to sell them to Passco at $224.75 per ton C&F.

"We have sold the fourth cargo to Indonesia. All the cargoes have moved out of Pakistan waters," Haroon Suleman, chief executive of Tradesman International, told Reuters.

"We were forced to sell these cargoes due to the undue and unjustified rejection of Passco," Mr Suleman added. "But it is not over yet because we are not going to take these losses." But Passco's Khan said: "The cargoes were not as per specifications."

Pakistan announced plans last year to import about 500,000 tons of wheat, saying it needed to fill a shortfall and build strategic reserves. Mr Khan said the domestic crop could bounce back this season.

"It is difficult to estimate at this stage but we could have a crop of over 20 million tons. The harvest in some regions has started. But the main harvest will start in mid-April," he said. Pakistan consumes around 20 million tons of wheat annually. -Reuters.

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