Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWR) Regime
EWRs have become the global standard of agribusiness. It is defined as an instrument that permits farmers to store commodities at the time of harvest. The title document received upon the deposit is called a warehouse receipt.
The agribusiness financing under the EWR is the first-of-its-kind to be launched in Pakistan. All blueprints and preparatory measures that have been under development since the last decade are now ready to come to fruition. To further render support, all steps and processes needed for the private sector to launch are already set in motion such as:
(i) Award of the first CMC registration by SECP to NCMCL
(ii) Amendment of relevant prudential regulations by State Bank to allow EWRs to be used as collateral by banks
This regime will render multi-faceted success; it will primarily help farmers gain financial access and help incentivize aspects such as crop testing, grading, standardization, quality of crop preservation for exports and overall reduction in post-harvest losses.