Re: The crises like never before
actually pak has always exported surplus wheat. global wheat prices were much much lower last year when wheat exports were allowed. global wheat prices spiked up over a very short period last year and its unrealistic to expect agriculture ministry officials to predict future of commodity prices cause otherwise these people would be as rich warren buffet.
wheat in pak is subsidized which means that local prices are much lower in pak than abroad. this gives incentive to wheat producers to sell wheat to smugglers much in the same manner as drug producers have incentive to sell to smugglers. given the nature of pak society, its unrealistic to expect wheat producers to be patriotic and to sell wheat at lower prices domestically. cracking down on wheat smuggelers will be about as effective as nato crackdown of afghan drug smugglers. over the medium term, only solution to food inflation in pak is to produce more food which requires construction of more dams. in the short run, inflation can only be controlled by importing food items at a loss to govt. this is what govt is doing now:
http://brecorder.com.pk/index.php?id=677829&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=
KARACHI (January 12 2008): The two imported wheat consignments of some 86,000 tonnes on Friday, against orders booked by the state run grains trader to meet the local demand, besides arresting the commodity’s soaring prices, sources said.