Review Of The Pakistan Economy (Food And Agriculture)

During the period under review, from October 1960 to March1961, prices of wheat at Lyallpur (West Pakistan) recorded a small netincrease while prices of rice at Dacca (East Pakistan) registered anappreciable net decline. (See Table below) Wheat prices at Lyallpurshowed a persistent tendency to rise owing partly to drought conditionsand partly to withholding of stocks by traders in expectation ofshortages of foodgrains following enlarged shipments to the cycloneaffected areas of East Pakistan. Prices touched a peak of Rs. 17/12/-18/14/- in the middle of January from Rs. 15/8/- 17/- per maund at theclose of September 1960. The continued release of government stocks at afixed rate of Rs. 16/- per maund through 250 centres was a major factorfor the reversal in the rising trend in prices. The onset of winterrains also had a favourable impact on prices. As a result, there was amarked decline in prices which closed finally at Rs. 16/- to 17/- at theend of March 1961. Meanwhile, the final estimate of wheat crop for1959-60 placed output at about 0.6 per cent higher at 3,876,000 tonscompared with the preceding year, the area under wheat cultivationhaving risen by 1.6 per cent to 12,193,000 acres. However, the firstforecast of wheat crop for 1960-61 places the cultivated area at10,428,000 acres or a decline of 16.0 per cent as against the firstforecast for 1959-60.