July 19, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 22, 1427

KARACHI, July 18: The increase in rates of 100kg wheat bag from Rs1,065 to Rs1,120-1,130 in the last one week has pushed up the price of atta No.2.5 to Rs980-1,020 from Rs950-1,000 per 80kg bag depending on the quality.

The wholesale price of atta No.2.5 is now tagged at Rs12.50-12.80 per kg as compared to Rs12.00 per kg last week. The price of fine atta has risen to Rs13.50 from Rs12.50 per kg. Retailers, like in other commodities, enjoy a freehand to charge prices on their own.

A retailer said makers of Ashrafi fine atta had raised prices to Rs150 from Rs145 on Tuesday. It is sold for Rs155 at the retail markets.

As a result, some leading flour millers, who also run bread-making industries, have raised prices of bread and its products. The price of small bread is now tagged at Rs12 from Rs11, while medium-sized bread of Rs15 now sells at Rs17.

However, Haji Mohammad Yousuf, Sindh-circle chairman of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), ruled out any flour crisis like sugar, cement, pulses, etc., in which consumers had yet to see any relief in terms of falling prices.

He told Dawn that arrivals of wheat from Punjab had been very slow. Big trawlers are only allowed to bring small quantity of wheat bags from upcountry. At present only 300 bags of wheat are arriving as compared to 600 bags. However, the rent is same at Rs30-50 per bag. The government has imposed section 144 for three months in Karachi under which big trawlers cannot bring heavy loads of wheat owing to infrastructure development and road repairing work in the city.

Mr Yousuf said the Sindh food department had a stock of 200,000 tons of wheat -- 175,000 tons from the 2004-05 crop and 25,000 tons of imported wheat. “We have requested the department to release the local crop at an issue rate of Rs1,050 per 100kg and Rs1,000 for imported wheat in order to help stabilise wheat and atta prices in the markets,” he added. The Punjab food department has an estimated 1.5 million tons of wheat stocks.

“The country has enough wheat stocks (over 20 million tons) due to good wheat crop and there will be no flour crisis in the months to come,” he said, adding that there is also no need for import of wheat in view of sufficient local production. The government had imposed a 10 per cent import duty on wheat three months back.

The PFMA chairman said the government provided a subsidy of Rs12-14 billion every year but the consumers had yet to see its benefit in terms of price decline. Though Sindh last year did not received any subsidy, the rates of flour varieties in Karachi had not increased despite the fact that the millers had not received any wheat from the food department. Besides, import of 900,000 tons of wheat from Australia, Russia, the USA, etc., in 2005 had kept the rates of wheat flour varieties steady in the markets.

Former PFMA vice-chairman Malik Naeem Ahmed Khan said mills were now buying wheat from the open market as the food department was not ready to release its stocks. “There is also a problem in getting wheat from the food department which requires advance payment and delivers the good after four to five days. From the open market, the millers make deals on phones and make payments whenever they like,” he added.