Pakistan To Import 300,000 Tons Of Wheat To Meet Flour Crisis

Pakistan on January 20 approved the import of 300,000 tons of wheat to alleviate the effects of a shortage of flour supplies that has triggered a crisis for Prime Minister Imran Khan's government.

Prices of flour and bread went up last week as the staple disappeared from shops and wholesale markets.

The decision to import the wheat was made by Pakistan's Economic Coordination Council, with the first shipment expected to arrive by mid-February, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

It was not immediately known from which country or countries Pakistan will import the wheat.

Pakistan exported more than 600,000 metric tons of wheat from late 2018 to June 2019, its statistics bureau says. Although the government banned exports in July last year, 48,000 metric tons was still sent overseas until October 2019.

Experts said it made no sense to export the wheat after poor crop yields in the last harvest and called for an investigation into the exports despite the ban.

With reporting by Reuters