Pakistan is likely to export around one million tonnes of wheat to India this year, according to a news report.

It said Islamabad has already allowed exporting up to 500,000 tonnes to India.

Pakistan's Food and Agriculture Secretary Muhammad Ismail Qureshi was quoted as saying in The Dawn daily that the government has already granted permission to private sector to export up to 5 lakh tonnes of wheat to India.

He said the total wheat export could reach up to a million tonnes this year.

India had floated tenders for import of a million tonnes of wheat. The official said Pakistan's private sector is capable to compete with international wheat prices because of the transportation charges. Besides, there is no tax or duties on export of wheat, an official said.

In addition, India could save time by importing wheat from Pakistan via Lahore and Karachi to Delhi and Mumbai by rail and ship.

Agricultural Development Commissioner Qadir Bakhsh Baloch said that this was the first time that Pakistan had allowed wheat export to India.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had officially approved the export of 500,000 tonnes of wheat to neighboring countries like India and Afghanistan.

"We will announce a new plan for more wheat exports after finalisation of crop figures," Minister for Food Sikandar Hayat Bosan had said last week.

The Pakistan government is expecting wheat production to exceed 23 million tonnes, surpassing the current 22.5 million-tonnes target.

In the previous fiscal, Pakistan had produced 21.7 million tonnes of wheat.

Baloch claimed that Pakistan had a confirmed demand of one million tonnes of wheat from India.