LAHORE, March 9: The 90 flour mills in interior Sindh, which went on strike on Sunday last, have decided to call off their strike by Wednesday after receiving permission from the provincial government to procure wheat.

According to Bilal Sufi of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association, the Sindh Chief Secretary on Tuesday permitted the millers to procure wheat from fresh arrivals. The decision to call off their strike has been taken, but would take effect on Wednesday.

He also hoped that the arrival of the new wheat crop would also started easing the pressure on Punjab's wheat. Though the pace of arrival of the wheat is slow at present, but it would soon gather momentum and bring some sanity in the flour market, he said.

It should also have a salutary effect on the flour price in the Punjab and Karachi markets, he said. Karachi has suffered during the last few months with high flour prices, and the price is not expected to come down drastically unless wheat from the Punjab starts arriving by mid-April. But the Sindh crop can certainly help ease the pressure.

The 90 flour mills in interior Sindh went on strike last Sunday in protest over the government's decision to eject them from the procurement process at the early stage.

The Sindh government wanted to meet its procurement targets before letting the flour millers purchase their wheat. The millers went on strike saying that if they were unable to purchase wheat now, there was hardly any sense to be in business and wait for their turn at the cost of their profits.