14 May 2004	Friday	23 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, May 13: In a summary to the chief minister, the Punjab food department has recommended a freeze on the wheat release price for flour mills at Rs350 per 40kg for the year 2004 and Rs355 for first four months of 2005.

Sources say the department has recommended release of wheat to mills from the second week of September. Last year, the department waited till November because it did not have wheat to meet millers' demand. This year, it hopes to be in a position to dictate market and control flour price.

But sources in the department hope that the government will cap the release price at Rs360 per 40kg and recover all its expenditure on wheat. Otherwise, the government may end up footing a Rs2 billion subsidy bill.

Meanwhile, the department launched the campaign against unlicensed wheat hoarders on Thursday. According to an official of the department, hoarders would be asked to bring wheat to the nearest purchase centre and get paid.

Anybody refusing to bring wheat to the centre would have his stocks confiscated. By Thursday evening, the department had procured over 1.9 million tons of wheat. The daily arrival of wheat has dipped to around 50,000 tons.

It was claimed that wheat price had slided by Rs10 after the State Bank imposed the restriction of 50 per cent cash margin and asked millers to adjust their loans by Sept 30. "The private sector was already on its way out, causing the price to go down."