Overview
- Federal minister Rana Tanveer Hussain told a National Assembly panel that Pakistan may need roughly $1.5 billion of wheat imports next year to cover a shortfall.
- He warned local wheat output could drop by up to 50 percent and linked recent declines to the end of minimum support prices under an IMF-linked adjustment.
- The government will approach the IMF to resume the annual wheat support price, with a new national wheat policy slated for the first week of October.
- Sugar production reached 5.8 million tonnes versus a 7.2 million-tonne estimate, prompting about $150 million of imports as officials blamed a “sugar mafia” for price spikes.
- Traders and lawmakers called for crackdowns on hoarding and cautioned that sugar imports during the crushing season could harm farmers.