Wheat imports unlikely to cut prices

According to Dawn, the state-led purchase of an opening lot of 750,000 tonnes of grain via the Trading Corporation of Pakistan is unlikely to lower prices sharply, though millers and traders believe it could halt further rises. A tender attracted nine overseas companies, which offered a combined 656,000 tonnes at between $348.83 and $369.95 per tonne.

Traders said high flour prices, driven by a rise in open-market wheat rates and frequent petrol price changes, are pushing low and middle-income households to buy smaller amounts instead of 5kg to 10kg bags. Karachi Retail Grocers Association general secretary Farid Qureishi said a fine-quality 5kg bag costs Rs950-1,000, while a 10kg bag is near Rs2,000.

Rauf Ibrahim, chairman of the Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Association, described the imported quantity as negligible against daily wheat grinding of about 70,000 tonnes. Muzammil Rauf Chappal of the Cereal Association of Pakistan urged the government to let private firms import wheat, saying the annual requirement is around four million tonnes.