Sindh increases wheat quota to check flour prices

KARACHI: Sindh government has increased wheat quota of the flour mills to bring wheat flour prices down to Rs95 per kg from Rs150 per kg, a govt official said on Tuesday.

“At 1,100 sale points in the province, wheat flour will be available at Rs65 per kg while it will be sold for Rs95 per kg at the retail shops in a few days, as flour mills quota is being increased,” Provincial Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said.

He was with Food Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla and the leadership of All Pakistan Flour Mills Association, as they held a press conference in Sindh Assembly.

Memon said a flour crisis had emerged in the whole country, where prices had moved up but “prices were controlled only in Sindh where flour was made available at Rs65 per kg by the provincial government.”

He added that 460 trucks were providing flour at such rates in Karachi on daily basis, while 600,000 bags of 10 kg each were provided at the subsidised rates in the province daily, as the government was providing subsidies of billions of rupees, he claimed.

The minister said the quota of the flour mills was being increased and they hoped that prices in the open market would come down to Rs95 per kg from Rs150 per kg in a few days.

“Sindh government is having abundant stock of wheat and the chief minister has instructed strict actions against the hoarders. Wheat stocks of the hoarders will be seized.”

The provincial minister said that under the law, there was no ban on the movement of wheat but the government could ban the inter-provincial movement of the grain.

Memon continued that the provincial government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs4,000 per maund for the next season. The decision was criticised by some elements but it was now being praised and followed by other provinces as well, he added.

He explained that imported wheat was available for Rs9,000 per maund, which was not as good as the local wheat and was used in a mix with the local wheat.

The provincial minister claimed that wheat flour was being sold at the highest rate of Rs160 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mukesh Kumar Chawla said he was instructed to control the increasing prices and bring them back to Rs95 per kg.

He stated that Punjab government had increased the wheat quota of the flour mills, where prices came down to Rs120 per kg from Rs160 per kg. “The prices will come down to Rs95 per kg in Sindh from Rs150 after an increase in the quota.”

Chawla said the Sindh government was having abundant stock of wheat along with stocks of the flour mills while a ship of wheat arrived last night while another ship was reaching Gwadar port, he informed.

A senior leader of the Flour Mills Association Chaudhry Muhammad

Yousuf hailed the decision to increase the quota of flour mills, hoping wheat flour rates would come down soon in the province.