KARACHI: Pakistan on Thursday allowed the export of an additional 500,000 tonnes of wheat in the hope of making inroads into the lucrative Indian market, a senior government official said.

“The government of Pakistan allowed export of 500,000 tonnes of wheat to India, especially in view of the tender floated by the State Trading Corporation,” Ismail Qureshi, food and agriculture secretary, said. “The export will be undertaken by the private sector by sea and land route, that is railways.”

An expected bumper harvest of 23 million tonnes this 2006/07 crop year allowed Pakistan in January to lift a two-and-a-half year export ban intended to protect domestic supplies.

The country, seeking to cut bulging wheat stocks, had already allowed export of 800,000 tonnes by private traders and removed a 15-percent duty on exports. The government set a deadline of June to ship the 800,000 tonnes. So far, deals for up to 400,000 tonnes have been finalised, while a big quantity had also been sold to local flourmills. Pakistani traders are fearing that a delay in releasing additional quantity may prevent them from participating in an Indian import tender, which will be closed on May 10. Agriculture Ministry officials said the government was holding more than 2 million tonnes of wheat stocks in excess of buffer norms and more arrivals had created a storage problem. reuters



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