Wheat import from Russia initiated through Gwadar Port

Author: APP

Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Chairman Pasand Khan Buledi on Thursday said that the import of wheat from Russia had started through the Gwadar Port.

According to the agreement, he said, a total of 450,000 metric tons of wheat would be imported through nine ships. The first ship MV Leela Chennai had reached Gwadar port with 50,000 metric tons of wheat.

“China Overseas Ports Holding Company, Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation Limited, Pakistan Customs and National Logistics Cell will play their respective roles for import, unloading, storage and delivery of wheat”, the GPA chairman said.

“All arrangements have already been completed under the agreement between Trading Corporation of Pakistan and Gwadar International Terminal Limited”, he said.

He said that the Ministry of National Food Security and Research had opened a tender for the import of wheat on November 30, 2022, considering the results of the 7th international tender and G2G offer by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on behalf of the Russian company Prudentroj.

He said that the lowest bid was accepted by the company, that was $372 per metric ton for G2G. “While according to the agreement, the import operation of 450,000 metric tons of wheat will continue from March 2 to March 31, 2023. Any additional cost incurred on inland transportation from Gwadar Port will be borne by Pasco which will be received from the provinces at the time of release of wheat stock”, he said.

He said that the agreement to import such a large volume of wheat was a remarkable development towards improving the natural capacity of Gwadar port as a logistics hub in the area which would contribute $10 billion to Pakistan’s GDP.

He said that importing wheat through the Gwadar Port was a new milestone and said that the import of wheat would boost commercial activities in Gwadar. It would also increase employment potential at the local level as “the season begins for unloading, storage and delivery of imported wheat, so for this, large scale skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled manpower will be required here”, he said.

He said that urea had been successfully transported from Gwadar port last month and “now all the relevant departments are implementing various projects to increase the economic activities in Balochistan.”