Daily Times

Strategic wheat stocks of the country are recorded at 8.644 million tons, which are sufficient to tackle with the domestic food requirements as well as maintaining smooth demand and supply in local markets during current food year. The food year in the country starts from May 1 to April 30 every year and government has also allowed import of 3 million tons of wheat to bridge the gap, said Food Security Commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Dr Imtiaz Ali Gopang. Talking to APP, he said that traditionally government was releasing average 46,300 metric tons per-day, including 25,000 metric tons by Punjab, 10,000 metric tons by Sindh, 5,000 metric tons by Khyber Pakthunkhwa, 1,000 metric tons by Balochistan and average release of 5,300 metric tons by Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supply Corporation. Out of the total stocks, about 5.143 million metric tons was available with Punjab, whereas Sindh has wheat stocks comprising on 933,006 metric tons, he added.