PAR News - Fri, 2 Dec 2022

TOPLINE

• President of the All Pakistan Solvent Extractors’ Association told the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on food security that the import of soybean seeds would have a negative impact on the poultry industry.
• The federal cabinet announced that the country has sufficient stocks of wheat which are 31 tonnes more than last year’s reserves. According to Secretary Food for action by District Food Controller Nowsheru Feroze, more than one lac sacks of wheat worth 7 crores are missing from 8 warehouses. Moreover, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan has received the lowest bid of $372 per tonne c&f for Karachi Port against tender for 500,000 tonnes wheat.
• Pakistan has so far received $ 738.530 million of foreign financial assistance i.e. around 22 percent against the total commitment of $ 3.4 billion from partners to support the flood relief activities in the country.
• The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has increased the price of LPG by Rs 1.7 per kg for December 2022, while the State Bank of Pakistan has strongly rebutted the misinformation of placing any restriction on Letters of Credit for import of oil, LNG and petroleum products.
• Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed down by 30.14% to $14.406 billion during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year.
• China’s top Covid official has signaled a possible relaxing of the country’s strict zero-tolerance approach to the virus, after nationwide protests calling for an end to lockdowns.

COMMODITIES - CROPS, LIVESTOCK & HORTICULTURE

• Chicken and Egg Shortage to Start Soon: The poultry industry is facing an imminent feed crisis with the government and importers at each other’s throats over the procurement of soybean. The President of the All Pakistan Solvent Extractors’ Association (APSEA) Shehzad Ali Khan told the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on food security that the import ban on soybean seeds would have a negative impact on the country’s poultry industry. [Pro Pakistani]
• Wheat Production Targets: Pakistan has failed to meet its wheat production targets for the last three years owing to the climate change impacts, particularly exceptionally high temperatures in March and April, which devastated the country’s wheat harvest in the previous two years, as reported by the News. [Pro Pakistani]
• Sufficient Wheat Stocks: For a change, the federal cabinet announced on Wednesday that the country has sufficient stocks of wheat which are 31 tonnes (two percent) more than last year’s reserves. This is commendable considering the recent situation in the country with the unprecedented floods that had destroyed so much produce and also how we have been experiencing lower yields in recent years. [The Nation]
• Wheat Vanished from Sindh Govt Warehouses: According to the letter, written to Secretary Food for action by District Food Controller Nowsheru Feroze, more than one lac sacks weighing 100 kg each pack and a total of 13 thousand metric ton wheat worth 7 crores has been missing from 8 warehouses. [PO]
• Wheat Import Tender: Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has received the lowest bid of $372 per tonne c&f for Karachi Port against tender for 500,000 tonnes wheat. The lowest price offered in the tender which closed on Wednesday has been for delivery in January 2023. The lowest bid was quoted for importing Russian-origin wheat. [The News] [Pro Pakistani]
• Gold Prices: Gold prices on Thursday saw a big hike on the local market, traders said. They shot up by Rs 1550 to Rs 162,750 per tola and Rs 1329 to Rs 139,532 per 10 grams. On the world market, gold prices were quoted for $1780 per ounce. Silver prices also grew by Rs 30 to Rs 1770 per tola and Rs 25.72 to Rs 1517.48 per 10 grams, traders said. [BR]
• Guar Export: $14.3 million was the worth of guar and guar products exported in July-Oct FY23, up 27.7% as compared to exports of $11.2 million in the same period of last year. [ET]

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AGRI-INPUTS, WEATHER, WATER & POWER

• Flood Relief Activities: Pakistan has so far received $ 738.530 million of foreign financial assistance i.e. around 22 percent against the total commitment of $ 3.4 billion from multilateral and bilateral partners to support the flood relief activities in the country. The in-kind support extended to the country by development partners was additional to $ 738.530 million. [BR]
• Fertiliser for Rabi Crops: Secretary of Agriculture South Punjab Dr Faisal Zahoor said that all fertilizers were avail­able in abundant quantities for Rabi crops.  He said that the availability of fertilizers and other agri­cultural inputs in the market was being ensured at fixed rates to reduce the cost of production of crops. Chairing a meeting at Ag­riculture Secretariat Com­mittee Room here Thursday to review the availability of fertilizers for Rabi crops. [The Nation]
• LPG Price Hike: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has increased the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by Rs 1.7 per kg for December 2022 as compared to last month. The government in a bid to provide some relief in winter decreased the price of kerosene oil; however, increased the LPG price which is largely used by consumers facing low gas pressure or gas load shedding. The regulator notified the new price of LPG cylinders on Thursday. The maximum LPG consumer price of a domestic cylinder weighing 11.8kg has surged by Rs 139 to Rs 2,548 for December 2022. [BR]
• Import of LNG and POL Products: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has strongly rebutted placing any restriction on Letters of Credit (LCs) for import of oil, LNG and petroleum products. The SBP on Thursday issued a clarification on some misinformation being spread in the media that the import of oil and petroleum products has been restricted by the central bank. “It is clarified that the SBP has not placed any restriction (verbal or otherwise) on opening of LCs or contracts for import of crude oil, LNG and petroleum products. [BR] [Pro Pakistani]
• Petroleum Levy: The federal government has increased petroleum levy on High Speed Diesel (HSD) by 98%, 17% on Kerosene Oil (SKO) and on Light Diesel Oil (LDO) by 94% projected to generate Rs 36.199 billion for the first fortnight of December (1-15). [BR]

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AGRI UPDATES & PAKISTAN POLICY

• Provincial Taxes: 22% increase in collection was recorded by Sindh Revenue Board in first six months of current fiscal. [ET]
• Trade Deficit: Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed down by 30.14% to $14.406 billion during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year as compared to $20.621 billion during the same period of last year. [BR] [The Nation] [Geo] [ARY] [Pro Pakistani]
• Imports Linked with Ministry’s Nod: The federal government has linked the payments for defence imports with permission of the finance ministry due to deterioration in the external sector amid a constant fall in exports and foreign exchange reserves. [ET]
• Pakistan Remittances: Remittances are expected to drop by 7.4% to $29 billion in 2022 from $31 billion in 2021, as loss of confidence contributed to migrants’ preference for the parallel exchange market and informal channels of money transfer, which further decreased official remittance flows to the country, says the World Bank. [BR] [The News] [Pro Pakistani]
• Inflation Jumps 23.8%: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation increased to 23.8% on a year-on-year basis in November 2022 as compared to an increase of 26.6% in the previous month and 11.5% in November 2021, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). [BR] [Dawn] [ET] [PKR] [Pro Pakistani] [Geo] [The News]
• Forex Reserves: The country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves fell $267 million during the last week because of foreign debt payments. According to a weekly report issued on Thursday, the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $ 13.378 billion as of Nov 25, 2022 compared to $ 13.645 billion as of Nov 18, 2022. [BR] [PKR] [The News]
• Pakistan-Africa Trade Development Conference: The Ministry of Commerce, in collaboration with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, successfully concluded the 3rd Pakistan-Africa Trade Development Conference (PATDC) in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday. [Pro Pakistani]

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INTERNATIONAL – OVERVIEW & MARKET OUTLOOK

• Global Employment Clues: Stocks in Asia are set for a mixed open after US equities struggled for direction, with traders looking to a jobs report for clues on the Federal Reserve’s next policy steps. The dollar fell with bond yields. Equity futures in Japan and Australia pointed to declines while those for Hong Kong indicated gains. Meanwhile, stock pundits are ditching two decades of unbroken bullishness and forecasting another drop for the S&P 500 in 2023. [Bloomberg]
• China Signals Zero-Covid Relaxation After Protests: China’s top Covid official has signalled a possible relaxing of the country’s strict zero-tolerance approach to the virus, after nationwide protests calling for an end to lockdowns and greater political freedom. [BR] [Dawn] [ET] [ARY] [Dunya] [CNN]
• Russia-Ukraine Updates: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States and NATO of playing a direct and dangerous role in the Ukraine war and said Washington had turned Kyiv into an existential threat for Moscow which it could not ignore. [Reuters] [EN] [Al Arabiya] [FISM]

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PAKISTAN - REMAINDERS

Opinion: Governments Start Urban Planning to Fight Climate Change - “Climate change has posed an unprecedented challenge to the world. The rise in temperature, unexpected rainfall patterns, heat waves, droughts, and flooding are some of the negative implications of climate change that are happening in different parts of the world. To respond to this chaotic situation multiple actions are being taken from the local to the global level.” - By Dr. Muhammad Mumtaz[Pro Pakistani]