Ship with imported wheat cargo anchors at Karachi Port

KARACHI: A ship carrying imported wheat cargo has anchored at Karachi Port, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan said in a statement on Sunday.

It is sixth ship, with 59,700 tonnes of the imported wheat cargo, that has reached to Karachi, the TCP said in a statement.

“The wheat is being imported to control shortage of the commodity,” according to the TCP. “Imported wheat will be transferred to the warehouses of PASSCO”, it said.

Another cargo ship with 58,000 metric tonnes consignment of imported wheat is expected to reach Karachi on September 29, TCP said.

The TCP under the directives of the government will import 2.3 million tonnes of wheat this year. The TCP has so far imported 3,38,037 metric tonnes of the wheat, the corporation said in its statement.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had given a go-ahead to start the process for import of three million tonnes of wheat to build strategic reserves.

The Ministry of Food Security has planned to import the commodity during the ongoing year to fill the gap between production and consumption.

This is aimed at preventing shortage of wheat and wheat flour by keeping the market supplied with a sufficient quantity of the commodity to check hoarding and profiteering.