Staff Reporter
Karachi
The third vessel MV Coventy carrying about 69,000 metric tons of wheat from Ukraine had reached Karachi port, which was allowed to discharged after mandatory quarantine inspection. A total of 195,000 metric tons wheat has been imported through three vessels since last week of August 2020 by encouraging private sector, said a press release issued by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MinNFS&R) here Thursday.
Meanwhile, experts of Federal Department of Plant Protection (DPP) undertook the mandatory quarantine inspection of vessel to check bio-security risks and discharge was instantly granted to vessel after satisfactory phytosanitary examination. The Ministry of National Food Security is in close liaison with concerned provincial authorities to ensure unhindered movement of wheat cargoes from Karachi to other parts of the country.
A significant impact of recent wheat import has been observed on wheat flour price in the country, whereas it was expected that this impact will be more apparent in next few days when the imported-wheat reaches to flour mills in various parts of the country. It reveals that the hoarded wheat in the country has also been come to the surface as a result of recent wheat import besides government’s anti-hoarding operations.
Syed Fakhar Imam, the Federal Minister for National Food Security had reassured government’s commitment to provide essential food commodities on affordable prices. Federal Secretary Ministry of National Food Security has been personally supervising wheat import process that included proactive liaison with concerned authorities in wheat-exporting countries, timely port inspection on arrival of vessel, and unobstructed carriage of wheat from Karachi port.
