ECC approves wheat support price at rupees 1,650 per 40-kg

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet has approved the minimum support price for wheat at Rs1,650 per 40 kilograms.
The decision was taken at the ECC meeting which met here on Friday with Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair.
The meeting maintained the current release price at Rs1,475 per 40 kilograms. The ECC also approved the grinding ratio of wheat at the base level of 70:30. It was further decided that the ratio for the refined varieties of wheat flour will be decided later by a coordination committee, constituted to oversee the supply and due provision of wheat across Pakistan.
The ECC granted approval for aggregate release of 38,000 metric tons of wheat per day to the flour mills. This release will include 25,000 MT by Punjab, 8,000 MT by Sindh, 4,000 MT by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1,000 MT by Balochistan.
The meeting accepted the government of Punjab’s request for providing additional 0.7 MMT of wheat, out of which 0.4 MMT of wheat will be imported by Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) for Punjab.
The ECC also approved a technical supplementary grant for the settlement of outstanding dues of non-litigant retired employees of Pakistan Steel Mills amounting to Rs11.68 billion. – TLTP