ISLAMABAD: Strategic wheat stocks of the country during the first week of the current month were recorded at 7.846 million metric tons, which is enough to meet the local needs and maintain stocks for keeping the demand and supply smooth in local markets of Pakistan.
Ministry of National Food Security and Research’s Food Security Commissioner Imtiaz Ali Gopang said on Monday that the government had procured nearly 5.879 million metric tons of wheat during the crop procurement drive for the year 2023-24.
He said that grain procurement targets for the ongoing season were fixed at 7.800 million tons as out of the total fixed targets about 75% was accomplished. Punjab completed 87% of its procurement targets as it procured 3.921 million metric tons and Sindh 56% to procured 777,394 metric tons respectively.
Wheat Stocks in Balochistan
He added that Balochistan had procured 50,000 metric tons, whereas Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation had completed 63% of its assigned task as it procured 5.879 million tons of wheat.
Food Security Commissioner said that local carry-forward stocks of wheat in Pakistan were recorded at 1.570 million metric tons, which further boosted the local reserves of grains. In 2022, the government had also imported nearly 375,589 metric tons of wheat.
So far, the government has released 762,471 metric tons of wheat stocks for grinding. The private sector procurements had reached at 3.590 million tons, of which 2.656 metric tons had been grinded.
It is to be noted that wheat production targets during 2022-23 were fixed at 28.37 million metric tons, whereas local grain production was estimated at 28.185 million metric tons.
