Wheat flour price rising since August

KARACHI: The wheat flour prices have continuously been increasing since the first week of August, 2022 as before that, on July 28, the average price of the flour declined to stand at Rs1,218/20kg bag.

In the weeks since July 28, 20kg wheat flour price has jumped up by Rs106/20kg bag on average, while during the same week last year, a wheat flour bag was available at an average Rs1,234 in the markets that were surveyed by the PBS.

The residents of Quetta continued to pay the highest price for the essential commodity at Rs2,390 for a 20kg bag, up by Rs90 from the last week’s Rs2,300/bag. It was followed by Karachi, where average price was Rs2,316.76 up by Rs204.67 from the last week’s Rs2,112.09/bag.

The price of wheat flour in Hyderabad was Rs2,243.29 during the second week of September, up by Rs163.32 from the last week’s Rs2,079.97/bag. The residents of Khuzdar paid Rs2,200/bag, up by Rs250 from the last week’s Rs1,950/bag, showing the highest impact among the 17 cities that are part of the PBS survey.

The wheat flour price in Larkana was Rs2,100, up by Rs200 from Rs1,900/bag, while the Sukkur residents paid Rs2,040/bag, up by Rs160 from the last week’s Rs1,880/bag. Bannu was the only city, where the price of a 20kg wheat bag declined by Rs242.86 to stand at Rs1,232 from the last week’s Rs1,474.86/bag, as per the PBS data.

According to the PBS national average, the commodity was at its lowest rate of Rs980/bag during the second week of September in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Bahawalpur, and Peshawar.

Fahad Rauf, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, warned that the SPI could spike in the months ahead on account of rising wheat prices that have jumped up 14 percent in a week, and 30 percent in three months.

Taking to his social media handle, he said that Sindh has fixed wheat support price at Rs4,000/maund vs Rs2,200 last year, while Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa want it at Rs3,000. The wheat prices were sticky-down, Rauf said, warning that the decision should be made keeping in view the future expectations of crop production and international prices.