ISLAMABAD: The federal government has directed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan to proceed with acceptance of the lowest bid or bids for the remaining 185,000 tonnes of wheat required by Sindh, moving the import process beyond the tender-evaluation stage.
The direction was issued at the seventh meeting of the Steering Committee on Wheat Imports for Food Year 2026-27, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
The committee reviewed progress on wheat import arrangements and instructed TCP to proceed with procurement of Sindh’s remaining requirement.
Dar also directed the governments of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to promptly arrange the required payments and complete tripartite agreements with TCP so that the import process can be executed on time.
The new instruction follows TCP’s international tender for 185,000 tonnes of wheat, plus or minus 10 per cent under the tender terms, on a cost-and-freight basis for Karachi and/or Gwadar.
The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s final evaluation identifies Bunge SA of Switzerland as the lowest bidder. The lowest evaluated price was $339.36 per tonne for Karachi, while the company also quoted $340.36 per tonne for Gwadar.
Twelve bids were listed as received in PPRA’s final evaluation record, with Bunge identified as the lowest bidder.
The government’s latest direction is therefore a procurement development rather than simply another tender announcement. It tells TCP to move ahead with acceptance of the lowest bid or bids for the remaining quantity required by Sindh.
The wording also matters for the price. A lowest evaluated bid is not automatically the same thing as a final weighted purchase price for the full 185,000 tonnes, particularly if more than one supplier is needed to meet the required quantity. The government statement did not announce a single final purchase price for the entire amount.
The 185,000 tonnes form part of wider wheat import arrangements for Food Year 2026-27. TCP had previously procured about 365,000 tonnes under an earlier tender, bringing the combined requirement discussed in the procurement process to around 550,000 tonnes.
Under the earlier procurement, wheat was secured at $348.83 per tonne. The latest lowest evaluated Karachi bid of $339.36 is $9.47 per tonne below that earlier price, although the final composition of the new procurement will depend on the bids TCP accepts.
The government says the imports are intended to maintain adequate wheat supplies and support reasonable prices for consumers.
The latest decision does not mean the 185,000 tonnes have already arrived in Pakistan. Procurement, contracting, payment arrangements, shipment and arrival are separate stages.
For now, the confirmed development is that the steering committee has told TCP to proceed with the lowest bid or bids and has instructed the relevant provincial governments to complete the financial and tripartite arrangements needed for execution.