Sources told Business Recorder that the National Agricultural Research Council (Narc) has found that imported wheat is fungus ridden. Following the tests at Narc, the Pakistan Agriculture Supplies and Storage Corporation (Passco) has rejected the two shipments of 75,000 tonnes.
Narc reports said the imported commodity contained kurnalbund fungus and was not fit for human consumption.
The test reports have also confirmed that the commodity does not meet other specifications given in the tender such as protein and gluten percentage.
When contacted, Managing Director Passco, Fahim Akhtar Khan confirmed that the two shipments of 75,000 tonnes wheat imported from Australia have been rejected on the basis of Narc test reports. He added that the rejected commodity fell short of specifications.
The Managing Director said, "We had received two shipments from Australia of 75,000 tonnes of wheat and both were rejected on finding the commodity short of specifications".
The Managing Director mentioned that payment to the importer was subjected to acceptance of the shipment after testing of the samples and now when the commodity was rejected there was no question of encashment of the LC.
Rejection of the first two shipments have left very little chance of acceptance of the remaining two shipments of equal quantity. The new development is a blessing in disguise for Pakistan as it would save the national exchequer from a loss of Rs 825 million.
The national exchequer was bound to suffer the loss in the case of acceptance of the shipment due to its irrationally high rates.
It may be noted that the Passco had placed an order to Tradesman International, a Karachi-based firm for import of 0.l50 million tonnes at $ 224.75/MT C&F Karachi. The deal had caught the attention of the Prime Minister, who directed the authorities concerned to cancel the tender.
The first tender could not be cancelled as the order had been confirmed to the importer by the time it came into limelight and was questioned by the Prime Minister Secretariat. However the second tender of 0.150 million tonnes was scrapped.
Timing of the arrival of the commodity was questioned at various levels. On the directive of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Passco had accepted the schedule of landing of the commodity at Karachi port when the domestic crop starts arriving in the market and another sad side of the story was the huge stocks lying with the government of Punjab and private sector in Sindh.
The ministry of Food and Passco went for a decision of import of commodity despite knowing the fact that 1.2 million tonnes stocks was available with the Punjab and only 10 percent of it could help Sindh overcome its crisis.