Pakistan approved the import of 300,000 tons of wheat to relieve a shortage of flour supplies that has created a crisis for the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Prices of flour and bread shot up last week as the ingredient disappeared from shops and wholesale markets, while bread makers shut in protest at what they called government pressure to sell the staple at controlled prices.
The first shipment of the imported wheat would reach Pakistan around Feb. 15, said authorities, with the federal government asking the Punjab government and the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to release excess stocks in the interim to overcome the shortage, especially in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The wheat imports are set to continue until March 31, when the next crop of wheat would be harvested.
The current crisis is believed to have come about due to several factors, with both the government and the opposition in recent days blaming each other for allowing the situation to spiral. Part of the problem was the government’s failure to accept a reduced production of wheat in the past fiscal year. Projected at 25.195 million tons, the actual production stood at 24.7 million tons. While this would have been sufficient to deal with the country’s personal consumption needs—estimated at around 2 million tons per month—the government decided last year to export wheat to Afghanistan despite an overall ban on any exports of the staple crop.
It was not yet clear from which country or countries Pakistan will import the wheat. Pakistan exported more than 600,000 metric tonnes of wheat from late 2018 to June 2019, its statistics bureau says. Although the government banned exports in July last year, 48,000 metric tonnes was still sent overseas until October 2019.Economic experts say it made no sense to export the wheat after poor crop yields in the last harvest, and called for an inquiry into the exports despite the ban.
Observers say the government is right to be worried and must ensure it reins in wheat prices; in the past year alone, Sudan and Iran have faced nationwide protests over a dramatic surge in prices of food items. One of the reasons for the Arab Spring was also food shortages, and price hikes. The PTI-led government, in its second year of power, cannot afford to tackle the street protests that might erupt if food stocks aren’t replenished quickly.
