Pakistan Imports Updates

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HAMBURG: The lowest price offered in the tender from Pakistan to purchase 500,000 tonnes of wheat which closed on Wednesday was believed to be $373.00 a tonne c&f, European traders said in initial assessments.

An estimated eight trading houses were believed to be participating in the tender.

The state agency Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is still considering the offers and no purchase has been reported, traders said.


Traders said these trading houses submitted offers, with tonnes submitted and prices in dollars a tonne c&f:

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Aston 120,000 $373.00
CHS 125,000 $384.40
Solaris 120,000 $384.91
Falconbridge 120,000 $387.79
Cargill 120,000 $393.00
Ameropa 110,000 $394.00
Agrocorp 110,000 $397.38
Bunge 110,000 $414.15
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Offers must remain valid for 80 hours after submission. All offers involved wheat from several optional origins.

The tender was issued after massive floods in September damaged farmland and crops, sweeping away homes, bridges, roads and livestock, causing an estimated $30 billion of damage.

But the country’s last tender on Sept. 30 ended without a purchase in thin participation due to uncertainty about new tender terms, especially a condition compelling a second quality inspection on wheat unloading in Pakistan in addition to the quality inspection in the port of loading.

The new tender is still believed to have a requirement for wheat quality testing at the port of unloading in Pakistan, traders said. But a requirement in the September tender that ships could not unload in Pakistan before the quality testing in Pakistan was completed has been removed, traders said.

Shipment in Wednesday’s tender is sought in 2022 in consignments of at least 100,000 tonnes between Nov. 13-Nov. 18, Nov. 21-Nov. 26, Nov. 29-Dec. 4, Dec. 7-Dec. 12 and Dec. 15-Dec. 20. Shipments must be organised so that all wheat arrives in Pakistan by Jan. 10, 2023.

 

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Pakistan’s Machinery Imports Slump by 40% in First Four Months of FY23​

ProPK
Nov 17, 2022


Pakistan’s machinery group imports witnessed a negative growth of 40.16 percent first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) and stood at $2.226 billion compared to $3.720 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The data on exports and imports released by PBS revealed that the monthly machinery group imports declined to $457 million during October 22, which is a 9-year low according to Arif Habib Limited.

Power generation machinery registered 69.88 percent negative growth during the first four months of FY23 and stood at $207.578 million compared to $689.226 million during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Petroleum group

Petroleum group imports witnessed a negative growth of 2.31 percent during the period under review and stood at $6.054 billion compared to $6.197 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Petroleum group imports registered 24.03 percent negative growth on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in October 2022 and stood at $1.188 billion compared to $1.563 billion in September and registered 25.94 percent negative growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis when compared to $1.604 billion in October 2021.

Petroleum products witnessed 1.75 percent negative growth during the first four months of FY23 and stood at $2.844 billion compared to $2.894 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

On MoM basis, it stood at $455.341 million in October 2022 compared to $730.113 million in September 2022 and registered 37.63 percent negative growth. On a YoY basis, petroleum products imports witnessed a negative growth of 36.67 percent when compared to $719.034 million in October 2021.

Petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 6.61 percent during the first four months of FY23 and stood at $1727 billion when compared to $1.620 million during the same period of last year. On a MoM basis, petroleum crude imports registered 17.35 percent negative growth and stood at $372.322 million compared to $450.503 million in September 2022. On a YoY basis, petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 1.93 percent when compared to $365.288 million in October 2021.

Natural gas (liquefied) imports witnessed a negative growth of 15.55 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year and stood at $1.286 billion compared to $1.499 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Agricultural and other chemicals

Agricultural and other chemicals group imports witnessed 23.58 percent negative growth during the first four months of the current fiscal year and stood at $3.477 billion compared to $4.550 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Transport group

Transport group imports witnessed 46 percent negative growth during the first four months of the current fiscal year and stood at $801.582 million compared to $1.484 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Food group

Food group imports witnessed 9.81 percent growth during the first four months of the current fiscal year and stood at $3.431 billion compared to $3.127 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Overall imports

The country’s overall imports during the period under review stood at $21.093 billion (provisional), compared to $25.084 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 15.91 percent.

Imports in October 2022 stood at $4.711 billion (provisional) as compared to $5.347 billion in September 2022 showing a decrease of 11.89 percent and by 26.03 percent as compared to $6.369 billion in October 2021.

The main commodities of imports during October 2022 were Petroleum products (Rs. 100,436 million), Petroleum crude (Rs. 82,124 million), Natural gas, liquified (Rs. 65,485 million), Palm oil (Rs. 59,739 million), Plastic Materials (Rs. 47,301 million), Iron & steel (Rs. 38,517 million), Raw cotton (Rs.29,943 million), Iron & steel scrap (Rs. 26,037 million), Electrical machinery & apparatus (Rs. 24,058 million) and Medicinal products (Rs. 23,234 million).

Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by 26.20 percent during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year and stood at $11.530 billion compared to $15.624 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Pakistan’s Machinery Imports Slump by 40% in First Four Months of FY23

Pakistan’s machinery group imports witnessed a negative growth of 40.16 percent first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23)

propakistani.pk

 

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Medicinal products import drop by 66.70%​

by Ishaq

ISLAMABAD: The import of medicinal products witnessed a decline of 66.70 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year (2022-23) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan imported medicinal products worth $447.701 million from July-October (2022-23) as compared to the imports of $1434.613 million from July- October (2021-22), according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, however, medicinal imports witnessed a surge of 46.06 percent, as the country imported 13,619 metric tonnes of medicinal products during the months under review as compared to the imports of 9,324 metric tonnes last year.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, medicinal imports into the country during October 2022 decreased by 63.31 percent, from $287.090 million in October 2021 to $105.337 million.\

On a monthly basis, medicinal imports during October 2022 also dipped by 37.71 percent when compared to the imports of $169.095 million in September 2022. (APP)

 

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Updates ....

 

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Gwadar, Balochistan..

Wheat that landed at Gwadar port from Russia has been sent to other parts of the country.
The price of flour will decrease soon and flour will be easily available..

 

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SBP lifts import curbs to save IMF loan deal

By Staff Reporter
Jun 24, 2023

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan on Friday scrapped all import restrictions in a bid to salvage a $6.7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme that is due to expire at the end of this month.

With immediate effect, it has been decided to revoke the directives imposed by the December 27 circular in light of the feedback received from various stakeholders, according to the central bank circular on Friday

The SBP eliminated the requirement that banks obtain prior approval before beginning import transactions in December of last year. However, it requested that the banks provide imports of necessities, energy, agricultural inputs, products from industries with a focus on exporting, and imports with deferred payment priority and facilitation.

“The SBP had already withdrawn direct restrictions and asked banks to manage liquidity. Apparently, now the SBP has formally removed the requirement for banks. I think this will be on paper, which could be due to IMF demand of market-based exchange rate,” said Fahad Rauf, the head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities.

“However, behind the scenes, the non-essential imports would still be given low priority,” Rauf added.

The government is scrambling to obtain the $1.1 billion IMF tranche that has been pending since November of last year. The IMF wants to openly allow shipments and remove all import restrictions. According to importers, there are more than 12,000 containers held at ports due to a lack of dollars. All foreign vendors require prompt clearance.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently met with the IMF managing director during the two-day New Global Financing Pact Summit in Paris. During their conversation, the Prime Minister outlined the significant reforms the country has carried out and requested assistance for the 9th review of the present programme. Even though the conclusion of the 9th review would result in the country receiving $1 billion from the IMF, this does not guarantee that money will be made available from other bilateral and multilateral partners as the current programme will expire in a week, leaving the country once more without a programme.

For the fiscal year that begins in July, the country will have to make payments on its external debt of around $23 billion.

Pakistan’s government liquidity and external positions remain fragile. The budget projects Rs6.35 trillion ($21 billion) of loans from external sources, including $1.5 billion from Eurobond issuances, $4.6 billion from commercial banks, $2.4 billion from the IMF and another $2.7 billion from other multilateral partners, according to Moody’s Investors Service report.

 

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Wheat import: doors not closed yet​

Abedullah | Sobia Rose
June 28, 2023

Pakistan is the 7th largest wheat producer in the world but, with respect to yield the country stands at 37th rank. Instead of releasing 123 varieties of wheat within last two decades, the growth of increase yield is only 1.1 percent per annum.

Since last two decades, wheat yield is hovering between 2.3 tons/ha to 3 tons/ha. Despite all the research efforts, the wheat production is not increasing at the required rate meet the local demand.

The same is expected to happen this year, raising a serious question mark on the efficiency of Pakistan’s agriculture R&D sector and extension department. It might be because of resource constraint because Pakistan is spending less than 1 percent of GDP on R&D.

According to the initial findings of the digital population census, we are now a nation of 245 million people. Keeping in view 125 kgs of wheat per person per year as a standard requirement, we need 31.19 million tons of wheat roughly to fulfil the dietary requirements of our current population.

This year’s wheat production is about 27.5 million tons and there is about 1 million tons carry-over stock, implying that there will be a gap of about 3.4 million tons. Hence, even after the claim of a bumper crop, the doors for wheat import are not closed yet.

To offset the high inflationary effect on the cost of production, government sets the wheat support price at PKR 4,000 per 40 kgs (i.e. PKR 100 per kg), which is almost 81.8 percent higher compared to 2021-2022 wheat support price (PKR 2200 per 40 kgs).

The government announces support price after the plantation of wheat crop, hence fixation of high support price fails to attract the additional area under wheat cultivation.

The price of wheat in the international market has gone down by 23 percent since the start of the year due to the Black Sea grain deal between Russia and Ukraine and a bumper wheat crop in Australia. The current wheat price in the international market is around PKR 65/kg.

This leads to assert that this year the produce will remain within the borders of the country; firstly, because Afghanistan will prefer to purchase wheat from Kazakhstan (the net wheat exporter in Central Asia) at international prices which are lower than wheat support prices in Pakistan.

Secondly, it is less likely that the grain can be exported to other countries when international prices are lower than the local prices. But the government still has a big footprint in the wheat market.

To ensure uninterrupted wheat supply throughout the year, Punjab and Sindh being highly populated provinces have approved 3.50 MMT and 1.40 MMT with a cash credit limit (CCL) of Rs 950 billion and Rs 214 billion, respectively, from the State Bank of Pakistan to purchase wheat from farmers so that Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation Limited (PASSCO) can play pivotal role to maintain the low wheat prices in the country.

Although, recent past years’ experience clearly demonstrates that PASSCO failed to maintain the low wheat prices in the country.

Private sector is offering higher prices to the farmer (PKR 5000 per mound) than PASSCO and therefore, it is likely to happen that PASSCO will fail to achieve the targets of wheat procurement. It is announced by government that wheat hoarding by farmers and private sector will be dealt with strictly. This is restricting the role of private sector in the wheat marketing system.

To tackle the wheat shortage, the Sindh government has announced slightly higher wheat prices than Punjab, which is close to the prices that private sector offers to the farmers in Punjab. Hence, as precautionary measures, the Punjab government has sealed its borders for any kind of export, i.e., both national and international.

PASSCO exists as a major player in the wheat supply to the flour mills, discouraging the private sector to engage in wheat marketing.

As a monopolist, PASSCO provides wheat to flour mills at a predetermined price, but flour mills coordinate with the retailers and exploit consumers to earn extra profit. Wheat prices in Pakistan have increased by more than 33% over worldwide rates as a result of Pakistan’s ineffective marketing system, which is a blatant example of a failed marketing plan.

If the major share of marketable surplus of wheat will be in the hands of private sector, then different suppliers in the private sector will compete with each other and will supply wheat to the flour mills at the compatible market price. Under this competing market situation, the consumer prices might not be less than under the situation when PASSCO is the primary supplier of wheat to the flour mills.

Private sector can be given a set price range and government can declare that wheat import will be allowed, for instance, if prices increased more than 30 percent from the international market to limit the profit of private sector.

By doing this, the government can save a huge amount of Rs 200 billion per annum in terms of loan paid to the banks on borrowed money by PASSCO, the cost of wheat loss taking place during the storage, and salaries of administrative staff of PASSCO. If we use the opportunity cost of infrastructure (buildings, etc.) under PASSCO, then this cost will be significantly higher. If the above said cost is diverted towards R & D in a targeted manner on a sustainable basis, there will be a meaningful reduction in prices for consumers in the long run.

 

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Russian wheat reaches Karachi port​

PPI

KARACHI: The first consignment of wheat imported from Russia by the private sector reached the Karachi port on Sunday. According to sources, the private sector will import wheat from Russia at $279 per metric ton, while the ex-mill price of commodity is likely to come down to Rs 92 per kg after the arrival of Russian wheat.

Earlier in March, the Russian ship carrying 50,000 tonnes of wheat reached Gwadar Port. The government started importing wheat from Russia after Pakistan witnessed a wheat shortage and the resultant flour crisis in the country.