- The demand for tobacco has been set at a record 85.8 million kilograms for the next year, significantly higher than the current year’s 53.575m kg, while Rs 1.4 billion was the value of tobacco exported in November 2022, up 74% compared to Rs 824 million in November 2021.
- Kissan Ittehad demanded an increase in the support price of wheat and legislation to protect the interests of farmers, while wheat prices touched the historic high of Rs. 4,100 per maund in grain markets across Punjab. Moreover, wheat sowing across the country during the current Rabi season witnessed about 94.53% growth as compared to the sowing of the corresponding period of last season.
- Utility Stores Corporation received bids for sugar procurement two weeks earlier but it has been unable to take decisions so far. Moreover, after a lot of back and forth, the gov has allowed exporting half a million (500,000) tonnes of sugar in phases, a move that could earn the country an estimated $266 million.
- SBP Governor, in the first-ever SBP Governor’s Annual Report 2021-22, reported to the parliament that the gov should gradually soften its administrative control over imports and realise its financial commitments from multilateral and bilateral creditors to strengthen foreign exchange reserves. In addition to this, SBP has formally granted Digitt+, Pakistan’s first agriculture Fintech, approval to pilot launch of Electronic Money Institution (EMI).
- The State Bank of Pakistan has projected real GDP growth below the previously announced range of 3-4% for FY23.
COMMODITIES - CROPS, LIVESTOCK & HORTICULTURE
- Tobacco Demand: The demand for tobacco has been set at a record 85.8 million kilograms for the next year, significantly higher than the current year’s 53.575m kg, leaf managers and growers told Dawn on Wednesday. Rs 1.4 billion was the value of tobacco exported in November 2022, up 74% compared to Rs 824 million in November 2021, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. [Dawn] [ET]
- Farmers Demand Wheat Price Hike: A delegation led by Kissan Ittehad chairman Chaudhry Khalid Hussain called on Punjab Senior Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal and demanded an increase in the support price of wheat and legislation to protect the interests of farmers. [ET]
- Wheat Price: Wheat prices touched the historic high of Rs. 4,100 per maund in grain markets across Punjab on Wednesday Chakki Atta dealers have warned of jacking up wheat flour rates. Traders in Lahore were selling wheat at a rate of Rs 4,000 per maund, while the same rate has spiked to a record high of Rs 4,100 per maund in Rawalpindi. [ProPakistani]
- Wheat Sowing Target: Wheat sowing across the country during the current Rabi season witnessed about 94.53 % growth as compared to the sowing of the corresponding period of last season. So far the wheat sowing has been completed over 90.90% of set targets and crop cultivation completed over 20.77 million acres against the set targets of 22.85 million acres, said the food Security Commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Imtiaz Ali Gopang. [UP]
- Sugar Procurement: Utility Stores Corporation received bids for sugar procurement two weeks earlier but it has been unable to take decisions so far. Sources said that the corporation received Rs 11 more in bids than the last year price with Jahangir Tareen’s mills giving the lowest price of Rs 90 per kilogram. It is to be noted that the last year’s price was Rs 78.94. [ET]
- Sugar Export: After a lot of back and forth, the government has allowed exporting half a million (500,000) tonnes of sugar in phases, a move that could earn the country an estimated $266 million at a time when even fruits & vegetables are stuck at ports amid challenges in opening letters of credit. It is understood that only 100,000 tons of sugar could be exported in the first phase. [ProPakistani]
- Meat & Rice Import: Pakistan produces better quality meat and rice than its neighbouring countries, said Egypt Ambassador Tarek Mohamed Dahroug.? The ambassador expressed Cairo’s desire to enhance the import of halal meat and rice from Pakistan. [ET] [UP]
AGRI-INPUTS, WEATHER, WATER & POWER
- Post Flood: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over a meeting to review the overhauling of damaged roads by heavy rains and floods approved Rs 66 billion for the reconstruction of 8620 km of provincial roads with the support of donor agencies. [BR] [Dawn] [The News]
- DAP Plant: Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited has shut down its DAP plant with maintenance scheduled for January 2023. Its urea plant will operate normally. According to a stock filing, the fertilizer maker closed its DAP plant on December 21, 2022, to more efficiently manage its DAP inventory owing to the demand and supply situation in the market. [ProPakistani]
- Taunsa’s District Status Approved: Amid uncertainty about his rule, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi awarded the status of a district to Taunsa and approved the Lahore Master Plan 2050 (with aim to protect agricultural areas) amid high political temperature in the provincial capital on Wednesday. [ET] [The News] [UP]
AGRI UPDATES & PAKISTAN POLICY
- Elahi’s Vote of Confidence: In a tit-for-tat move, Governor Balighur Rehman on Wednesday termed the ruling of Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan disposing of his directives regarding the vote of confidence “unconstitutional”, whereas the coalition government hinted at the imposition of governor’s rule in Pakistan’s largest province. [Dawn] [Dawn] [ET] [ET]
- IMF Talks: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor, Jameel Ahmad, in the first-ever SBP Governor’s Annual Report 2021-22 issued on Wednesday, reported to the parliament that the government should gradually soften its administrative control over imports and realise its financial commitments from multilateral and bilateral creditors to strengthen foreign exchange reserves. [ET]
- GDP Growth Forecast: Taking into account the destruction caused by floods and the policy focus on stabilization, the State Bank of Pakistan has projected real GDP growth below the previously announced range of 3-4% for FY23. [BR] [Dawn] [ET]
- Circular Debt: The government, on Wednesday, did not approve a Rs 17 billion subsidy sought by the Petroleum Division to make payments for the import of diesel from Kuwait, as it set up a committee to prepare a plan for the settlement of a Rs 1.4 trillion gas sector circular debt. [ET] [The News]
- Pak-Tajik Discuss Financing Options: Pakistan and Tajikistan have reportedly discussed financing options of Afghanistan part in Central Asia, South Asia-1000 (CASA-1000) project which is delayed due to law and order situation in Afghanistan and land issues in Pakistan, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. [Dawn]
- Pakistan Stock Exchange: The amount of fresh capital raised on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in 2022 dropped to a nine-year low, a research report compiled by brokerage house Topline Securities Ltd showed on Thursday. [Dawn] [ProPakistani]
- Agri Fintech: Digitt+, Pakistan’s first agriculture focused Fintech, announced that the State Bank of Pakistan has formally granted its approval to pilot launch of Electronic Money Institution (EMI). Digitt+ is powered by Akhtar Fuiou Technologies (AFT). [BR] [The News] [PT]
- Regularizing Daily Wage Earners: The Special Committee of the National Assembly for Affected Employees on Wednesday issued an across-the-board directive to all ministries/divisions/corporations/autonomous bodies to regularise the services of contractual, daily-wage, and contingent employees in 15 days. [ET]
INTERNATIONAL – OVERVIEW & MARKET OUTLOOK
- Oil Prices: Oil prices rose by more than $2 on Wednesday after data showed a larger-than-expected draw in US crude stockpiles, but gains were capped by a snowstorm that is expected to hit US travel. [BR] [ET]
- Saudi Arabia-Iran Meeting: Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday he spoke with his Saudi counterpart on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan the previous day, the highest-level encounter reported between officials from the rival states since they cut ties in 2016. [Dawn] [ET] [Al Jazeera]
- Russia-Ukraine War: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on his way to the United States to meet his counterpart Joe Biden and visit Congress, the White House has said – his first known overseas trip since Russia’s invasion on February 24. Zelenskiy told Biden that Ukraine controls the situation in the war thanks to US support, but warned that “the war is not over.” Biden’s administration on Wednesday announced $1.85 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine. [Al Jazeera] [Bloomberg]
- Lahore Fog Forces PIA to Partly Shift Operations to Islamabad. [Dawn]
- Opinion: Our Failure to Educate - “If we can design a system whereby a girl from the urban slums or rural areas of Pakistan can grow up to teach in a Pakistani university and win the Fields Medal in mathematics, we will never again have to worry about abject poverty or foreign exchange reserves.” - By Miftah Ismail [Dawn]
