August 26, 2007	Sunday	Sha’aban 12, 1428

KARACHI, Aug 25: The government is gearing up for a crackdown before Ramazan on hoarders of wheat and flour in Sindh and Punjab for which a list has already been prepared on the basis of information gathered from various sources, a well-placed source in the federal government informed on Saturday.

A high-level inflation control committee, headed by the federal minister for industries, production and special initiative, Mr Jahangir Tareen, has already been constituted by the prime minister to prepare a short and long-term strategy.

The information about a possible crackdown on hoarders, speculators and profiteers comes in the wake of the Karachi market news that prices of wheat have shot up to Rs 1,310 per 100 kg bag from Rs1,260 within a short span of a week.

Consequently, the wheat flour price for consumers in Karachi is now Rs19 and Rs20 a kg and bakers are intending to push up prices of bread.

“We did not give any information about hoarders to the federal government, nor we have any knowledge about a possible crackdown in the near future,’’ said a senior official of the Sindh government on Saturday.

The official said the provincial government will start releasing wheat from its stocks “as soon as we are instructed by the federal ministry of food, agriculture and livestock.’’

The Sindh government has about 600,000 tons of wheat stock that was procured this spring from farmers. Of this, about 110,000 tons is stocked in Karachi and the remaining in various parts of interior Sindh.

Two officials of the Sindh government are in Lahore to negotiate purchase of 35,000 tons of wheat procured by Passco and stocked in the province.

“The province may need three to four lakh tons of wheat to offset the shortage in demand and supply,’’ the official said for which he indicated Passco is the source.

Millers in Karachi hold a number of factors responsible for price-hike in wheat flour. The price rise has come after harvesting a record bumper crop of three million tons in Sindh and 24 million tons in whole of Pakistan.

“Most parts of Karachi are dug up that affect mobility of vehicles and more particularly of heavy trucks. The city government does not allow entry of heavy trucks in the city before midnight. Then there are electric power supply interruptions and last but not the least is upward price movement of wheat.

“All these factors are pushing up wheat flour price for consumers,’’ a miller said, who feared that this price spiral will show no respite in Ramazan unless government takes some appropriate administrative action and fiscal measures to render hoarding unviable.

There is a virtual consensus among all segments of market on hoarding of wheat by speculators and profiteers.

“These hoarders are annoyed by the government decision on abrupt suspension of wheat export,’’ a miller said who pointed out that traders who bought wheat in expectation of its export had stocked the grain and were creating artificial shortages to push up prices in the market and make a quick buck.

“We have the powers to raid and confiscate the wheat stocks under Food Control Act,’’ said the official in the Sindh food department.

It depends on the political leadership of the province and the federal government whom they want to serve — the profiteers or consumers — on the eve of an election year.