ISLAMABAD, May 18: Pakistan has struck a barter deal for export of one million tonnes of wheat against Iranian electricity dues.

The deadlock over the barter deal prevailed since March 2012 owing to differences on Pakistani wheat price offers, quality, along with unwillingness of the Iranian bureaucracy to pursue the deal.

Both the sides had initially agreed that Pakistan would receive around 600,000 tonnes of urea and 200,000 tonnes of iron ore from Iran against export of one million tonnes of wheat under the barter trade.

“This deal did not materialise because of lukewarm response of the Iranian bureaucracy,” an official source said requesting anonymity.

“We held a series of meetings, but could not reach an understanding,” the official added.

To extend further facilitation to Iran, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research has submitted a new summary to the cabinet for changing the original barter deal and linking it with payment of electricity dues to Iran.

The Iranian outstanding payment is approximately $60m for electricity supplied to Pakistan until April 2013 in areas bordering Balochistan.

The per month electricity bill Iran charges to Pakistan stood at $2.5m to $3m.

The barter trade deal was struck between the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari during Iranian President’s visit to Islamabad in February 2012.

Pakistan Agriculture Storage & Service Corporation (PASCO) would export 100,000 tons wheat to Iranian Government Trading Corporation (GTC) — state owned enterprise.

The electricity agreement is between Pakistan Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and Iranian Tavani, an electricity supply company.

As per the agreement, the NTDC would pay the price of wheat to PASSCO, while the Iranian GTC would pay the same to Tavanir.

The unique barter deal would put a big question mark on the ability of NTDC/PEPCO to collect electricity dues from the end consumers of Balochistan in the border areas.

The ministry of commerce did not disclose the price of wheat to be adjusted against the Iranian electricity dues.

Initially, Pakistan had offered wheat at the rate of $300 per ton.

The export of wheat to Iran did not fall under the US or UN sanctions, commerce ministry spokesperson Muhammad Ashraf told Dawn on Saturday.