Pakistan's Wheat Harvest Turns to Crisis Amid Soaring Prices and Poor Governance

The recent wheat harvest in Pakistan has yielded an impressive 30 million tonnes of wheat, but the country is now facing a potential crisis due to poor procurement decisions and weak stock management.

Punjab and Sindh are scrambling for emergency supplies as prices soar to Rs 150 per kg, with governments planning imports despite official claims of a record harvest.

The sequence of events leading up to the current situation is particularly troubling. Farmers sold much of their crop immediately after harvest due to lack of storage facilities, needed liquidity to repay loans, and had little confidence that holding onto their produce would prove worthwhile.

Provincial governments chose not to undertake procurement on the scale previously considered necessary to stabilise the market, leading to private stockholding increasing, supplies tightening, and prices moving upwards.