Imports bringing down sugar, wheat prices, claims govt

ISLAMABAD: The prices of these goods on the market have begun to decrease with the introduction of imported wheat and sugar, the government reported on Friday.

In order to ensure sufficient supply of grain to customers, the government is increasing the release of wheat to flour mills, but at the same time , the government will control the milling of wheat by flour mills, said Minister of National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhr Imam.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Hammad Azhar, Minister of Industry and Development, Fakhr said that by January next year, a total of 1.8 million tonnes of wheat would be imported into the country. So far, 220,000 tonnes of wheat has been supplied by the private sector.

On that occasion, Hammad claimed that, with the introduction of imported sugar, the price of the commodity on the market would decline by Rs15-20 per kilogramme.

Referring to the scarcity of wheat, Fakhr said that by next month, 9.5 million tonnes of wheat will enter the port of Karachi, while 1.5 million tonnes will arrive in February. “The stock of imported wheat would augment domestic strategic reserves and would be adequate for domestic demand before the next crop in the country is harvested,” he said.

Regarding the output of wheat, he said that the country produced 25.25 million tonnes of wheat during the last season, which was not sufficient to satisfy domestic requirements, so the government was forced to import wheat after twelve years.

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The Sindh government was criticised by Fakhr for failing to understand the severity of the emerging crisis and delaying the wheat release announcement. In comparison, in July, the Punjab government began releasing wheat to reinforce the demand and price condition, he added.

Hammad told reporters that more than 100,000 tonnes of imported sugar have arrived in the country, of which 40,000 tonnes have been released to the government of Punjab to make the commodity available at a regulated cost.

Sugar mills have told the government that the crushing season will begin sooner than the timetable, he said, which will help reduce the market price for sugar.

Hammad acknowledged that there was no physical testing process for the items. He emphasised, however, that careful inspection was required in order to generate authentic data to address domestic requirements.

Regarding the government’s announced industrial package, he said the industrial sector has widely lauded the scheme that would help promote the market, build employment opportunities and usher in the country’s economic growth.

معروف عالم دین مولانا طارق جمیل نے فیاض الحسن چوہان کو جیل خانہ جات کا قلمدان ملنے پر اُنہیں مبارکباد دی