ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research, Khusro Bakhtiar has said that there was no shortfall of wheat in the country.

Winding up a discussion on a motion in the Senate, Khusro Bakhtiar said the federal government had evolved a mechanism with the coordination of provincial governments to end artificial shortfall of wheat in some parts of the country.

He said that four million tonnes of wheat was available in the public sector and there was no shortfall of wheat in the country.

“Wheat flour price in Sindh has been brought down from 60 to 54 rupees while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 58 to 52 rupees per kg.

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The minister said that government had raised the minimum support price of wheat from 1300 to 1365 rupees per 40 kg.

On Jan 20, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved import of 300,000 tons of wheat.

The meeting was chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh in Islamabad. The ECC was informed that the first shipment of wheat was likely to arrive in the country by Feb 15.

The committee had asked Punjab and Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to release their stocks to overcome wheat shortage in the country. The meeting was informed that Punjab and PASSCO have wheat stocks of 4.1 million tons.

On Jan 19, the government had announced to launch a crackdown on those creating artificial wheat shortage in the country.

Khusro Bakhtiar had said sufficient wheat stocks were available in the country to fulfill domestic requirements of flour.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, he had expressed firm resolve to take strict action against those involved in hoarding, profiteering or creating artificial crisis of the commodity in domestic markets.