Govt aims timely imports to handle cotton, wheat shortage

Taking interest over the fall in cotton production and low wheat yield, the National Standing Committee on Commerce advised the concerned ministry to manage the shortfall with timely imports to maintain a price hike in the domestic market.

The committee chairman MNA Naveed Qamar chaired the meeting and  suggested to the Ministry of National Food Security & Research to fix the minimum support price for cotton to encourage its production in the country. Cotton yield fell to 6 million bales in the current year from 12m bales owing to multiple reasons.

Secretary Food Ghufran Memon informed the committee over the import of wheat to cover the demand in local production. He said this year’s wheat production is estimated at 26.04 million tonnes while the demand is 29m tonnes. Last year, 25.25m tonnes of wheat was produced.

He further said that 1.2m tonnes of wheat seeds and 1m tonnes of wheat are in strategic reserves. “We have imported 3.6m tonnes. We will import wheat from Ukraine and Russia this year,” he added.