The Ministry of National Food Security & Research (MNFSR) has invited local firms, joint ventures, and consortiums to participate in the Prequalification Document (PQD) process for licensing private companies for wheat procurement, storage, and handling under the Interim National Wheat Policy 2025–26.
This initiative is aimed at strengthening the management of the country’s strategic wheat reserves and improving efficiency in procurement and storage operations.
📦 Strategic Wheat Reserve Structure
Under the new framework, the national strategic requirement of 1.5 million metric tons (MMT) will be managed through a structured allocation system:
- Total reserve: 1.5 MMT
- Divided into: 150 lots
- Each lot size: 10,000 metric tons
👉 This lot-based system is designed to increase participation and operational flexibility in procurement.
🏢 Procurement and Responsibility Model
Each selected firm will be responsible for:
- Independent financing
- Wheat procurement
- Handling and storage
- Management of allocated stock (minimum 10,000 MT per lot)
👉 Firms may bid for multiple lots during the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, subject to their financial, technical, and storage capacity
The maximum number of lots awarded per firm will be defined at the RFP stage.
🏭 Strict Eligibility Criteria for Participation
To ensure participation from established and capable players, MNFSR has set strict qualification requirements:
📊 Financial Requirement:
- Minimum average annual turnover: PKR 1.00 billion
- Based on last three audited financial years
🏢 Storage Requirement:
- Minimum covered warehouse/silo capacity: 10,000 MT
- Must be suitable for food-grade bulk wheat storage
- Can be owned or legally leased facilities
👉 These conditions are designed to exclude small traders and ensure participation of financially stable companies
⚖️ Policy Objective: Institutionalizing Wheat Management
The PQD framework aims to:
- Strengthen strategic wheat reserve management
- Improve transparency in procurement
- Increase private sector participation
- Enhance storage and handling efficiency
👉 The focus is on shifting toward a structured, capacity-based procurement system
📅 Key Dates and Timeline
- Application opening: December 30, 2025
- Submission deadline: January 14, 2026
👉 The PQD provides only preliminary guidelines, while full operational details will be shared in the RFP stage
🔮 Market and Policy Outlook
Short-Term Impact:
- Increased interest from large-scale logistics and commodity firms
- Higher institutional participation in wheat handling
- Improved storage discipline in national reserves
Medium-Term Impact:
- More structured wheat procurement system
- Reduced dependency on fragmented procurement channels
- Potential improvement in supply chain efficiency
🔚 Conclusion
The MNFSR’s new PQD framework under the Interim National Wheat Policy 2025–26 introduces a structured, large-scale private sector participation model for wheat procurement and storage. By dividing the strategic reserve into standardized lots and enforcing strict eligibility criteria, the government aims to enhance efficiency, transparency, and capacity in managing national wheat stocks. The policy is expected to reshape Pakistan’s wheat supply chain by attracting financially strong and operationally capable firms into the system.
The Agri-Crop editorial team comprises commodity market analysts, rice trade specialists, and agriculture industry professionals based in Pakistan. We track daily price movements, export data, and policy developments across Pakistan’s key agricultural sectors.
