ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet here on Friday allowed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to proceed ahead with the lowest offer received from M/s Makhdoom Logistics Services @ US$ 520/MT for the import of 300,000 MT of urea fertilizer.
According to a press statement issued by the finance ministry, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar presided over the ECC meeting.
Trading Corporation Pakistan floated an international tender for import urea in this regard on Oct 19, 2022, and the same was opened on Oct 26, 2022. Three bidders offered rates. The lowest responsive bid was @ US$ 520 PMT for 300,000 MT.
The cabinet committee approved the proposal of the ministry of commerce to suspend the date of implementation of the import policy order (IPO) 2022 regarding the import of timber and wood till March 31st, 2023.
The Ministry of Commerce presented a summary of the suspension of import conditions contained in Import Policy 2022 about the import of Timber/Wood. It was informed that all Pakistan Timber Traders Association (APTTA) requested an extension in the date of implementation of conditions of the import permit.
The Federal government subsequently suspended the operation of Import Policy provisions till 31st August 2022.
APTTA has again approached with the same request to support the wood business sector. To facilitate the import of wood/timber, the ECC directed the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) of the Ministry of National food Security and Research to review the conditions for the import of wood and timber and to bring them in conformity with the international best practices so that the import of wood and timber will not be subjected to unnecessary and cumbersome procedures.
The ECC allowed the TCP to import 0.80MT of wheat through open tendering or government-to-government basis while the committee granted permission to provide an additional supply of imported wheat to provinces from PASSCO’s stock.
Ministry of National Food Security & Research tabled a summary regarding permission for the import of 0.80 MMT of wheat through TCP. It was submitted that ECC on 09-05-2022 allowed TCP to import 3 MMT of wheat and directed it to devise import modalities.
Modalities were devised and TCP was allowed to import 1.00 MMT of specified milling wheat through an international tendering process. Later, public wheat stocks were re-verified by Committee and reported that the actual shortfall would be 2.60 MMT, instead of 3 MMT. Therefore, TCP was allowed to import only 0.80 MMT through open tendering as well as through G2G basis out of the remaining 1.60 MMT on 06-09-2022.
Further ECC directed the concerned Ministry to frame and submit a logistic plan within 15 days.
The ECC approved the lowest bid offered by M/s Aston FFI DMCC, M/s Fertile Pvt ltd @ US$ 373/MT for 380,000 MT in the 6th international wheat tender 2022.
The ECC discussed in detail another summary of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research regarding urgent advice related to the award of the 6th International Wheat Tender-2022 opened on 26th October 2022 for 500,000 MT. Keeping in view the results of the 6th International Tender.
The ECC also approved a Technical supplementary grant of Rs 333.915 million for the current financial year in favour of the ministry of interior.
Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mehmood, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, Federal Secretaries and senior officers attended the meeting.
