By Mahua Venkatesh
New Delhi, May 30: Pakistan, traditionally a wheat exporting country, has now resorted to imports of the grain. It has now decided to import two million metric tonnes (MT) of wheat from Russia on a government-to-government basis. Amid sanctions against Russia, the payment will be done in cash. The mechanisms of the deal will be duly worked out, an analyst told India Narrative.
The shortage of grain and rise in food imports bill will worry Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at a time when the country is battling an acute economic crisis.
In a tweet, Pakistan's Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said: "When we left govt in 2018 we were exporting wheat and sugar. You ended up importing sugar & wheat, produced the lowest cotton since 1983/84, took 80% of all debt taken in the previous 71 years. Had the highest imports."
While systematically the crop yields have reduced, this year it has been further dented due to the intense heat wave in Pakistan along with water and fertilizer shortage. The Russia-Ukraine war has also led to a spike in fertiliser prices. Besides, the continuous increase in population and overall lack of investment into agriculture have added to the problem.
World Grain, a business magazine tracking production and trade of grains and flour, said that over the past few years, Pakistan's wheat production has not increased at a rate to satisfy local demand, shifting the country from a wheat exporter to a wheat importer.
Pakistan has imported about 1.3 million tonnes of wheat in the 2021-22 marketing year but the inbound shipment of this staple grain is likely to increase.
The imports may increase with "lower output in most wheat-growing regions, supply chain disruptions on account of the Russia-Ukraine war, and export restrictions imposed by major exporters like India," Karachi based newspaper Dawn noted.
Argus analytics and advisory arm Agritel data showed that combined wheat production in Pakistan, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, Iran, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Iraq and Syria is expected to drop by 6.3 million tonnes on the year to 68.5mn t in the 2022-23 marketing year.
The data analysis firm has pegged Pakistan's wheat production in 2022-23 at 25.8 million tonnes -- below the 2021-22 output level of 27.5 million tonnes and the 26.4 million tonnes forecast by USDA FAS.