Pakistan-Iran Strike Barter Trade Deal

Islamabad, Sept 8, IRNA -- A Pakistani news daily on Friday quoted a senior official as saying that Pakistan and Iran have signed a barter trade agreement – a key feature of which is export of one million tons of wheat to Iran at the price of $300 per ton. 'We have signed an accord with Iran for export of one million tons of wheat,' the Express Tribune quoted official of the Ministry of Food Security and Research as saying. He said an Iranian team would arrive in Pakistan soon to examine the quality of wheat and after that exports would kick off. 'Both countries (Iran and Pakistan) have set criteria and the Iranian team will conduct tests to check the wheat's quality before shipment.' In exchange, Pakistan will import fertilizer from Iran. Pakistan has a surplus wheat stock of 1.5 million tons and even after export of one million tons, 500,000 will still be in surplus. Iran will pay $300 per ton, the average price of wheat in the international market in July. However, Pakistan will pay for the fertilizer on the basis of the price of fertilizer at the time of shipment. Ministry of Food Security and Research Secretary Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri has confirmed that Pakistan and Iran had struck the deal for wheat export. He also said 'we will buy fertilizer in exchange.' In addition to the import of fertilizer from Iran under barter trade agreement, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet – the highest economic decision-making body – has permitted import of 300,000 tons of urea from other sources. The Ministry of Industries had expressed the desire to import 600,000 tons./end