LAHORE, Aug 2: The Punjab government sees no wheat crisis in the country. Talking to reporters at Punjab Assembly chambers here on Monday, Punjab Food Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal said there existed no wheat crisis. Had it been the case people would have faced difficulty in the availability of the commodity or its product(s) like flour, he said.

However, he admitted that there was a crisis of prices as rate of 20kg flour bag was increasing after every couple of days. He said the government was taking action against profiteers through the price control committees.

The minister said the flour rate in each district was different as DCOs had been directed to fix flour price on the basis of wheat price in the local market plus grinding cost for producing flour.

Answering a question, he said the government had to intervene in the purchase of wheat this year after reports that the private sector exploited farmers as well as consumers through their monopoly and earned Rs100 per maund (40kg) profit last year.

Replying to a query, Chaudhry Iqbal said that the prime minister had allowed import of 500,000 ton wheat through an open international tender. As much more wheat could also be imported if the need be, he added. So far the Punjab government had procured 2.5 million ton wheat from the local market, the minister said.

The procurement target was over 3.5 million ton. He said the Punjab government was providing 100,000 ton wheat to the NWFP on credit at a rate of Rs410 per maund.