ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: Undeterred by government’s rhetoric against hoarders, an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of wheat has so far been smuggled out of Pakistan over the last 45 days as domestic flour prices increased by almost 40 per cent since February this year, it is learnt.

Advisor to the finance ministry Dr. Ashfaq Hassan Khan conceded at a press conference on Tuesday that more than two million tonnes of wheat was being hoarded by black marketers.

Wheat smuggling was going on through almost all borders -- Wagah, Sindh and Balochistan -- in addition to normal and legal exports to Afghanistan. “About 200 truckloads of wheat from Sindh alone leave for Indian border every day,” said a senior government official who has a formal role in essential commodities.

The official told Dawn that this year wheat prices were unusually lower in Pakistan than the rates in the international market and in India the commodity is costlier by about 40 per cent offering great profit margin to the black-marketers. Even after paying 15 per cent of their margin for border-crossing they get away with 20-25 per cent profit and there are many safe crossing points near Wagah and Khokhropar, he added.

Wheat prices have surged by almost 38 per cent to Rs1,450 per 100kg from about Rs1,050 in February despite record production of 23.5 million tonnes which is much higher than the estimated 22 million tonnes of domestic consumption and some exports to Afghanistan. In public sector its rate is fixed at Rs1,215 per 100kg.

The official said the nation was lucky to have bumper crop this year providing surplus production when the international market witnessed wheat shortage and prices touched new peaks.

“We have failed to control prices despite surplus production, thanks to the mafia within the government. Imagine what havoc might have been played with the people had there been a shortage at home,” said the official saying there was a strong case to investigate which circumstances had forced the government to allow export of more than five million tonnes of wheat a few months back.

Besides illegal exports to India, the official said, Pakistani wheat was being smuggled to Iran through Balochistan-Taftan border and reaching up to some Central Asian states. This, he said, was in addition to legal exports of wheat by-products which the government banned in the last week of August.

The federal government has been warning the provincial governments to check flour prices by taking action against the hoarders. Recently, provincial governments defied centre’s instructions for releasing maximum wheat stocks to flour mills between September 1 and 7, but they started very limited releases after the deadline.

The official said a number of people had misused export permits issued early this year for exporting about five million tonnes of wheat. They purchased high-quantity wheat, which was being smuggled now. Many people also misappropriated bank loans they had obtained for wheat exports, he added.

Wheat stocks in the public sector stood at 4.8 million tonnes on July 15 this year but dropped to 4.646 million tonnes as of September 9, including those with provincial governments and the Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Supplies Corporation (Passco) indicating how slow has been the public sector releases while domestic prices continued to soar during this period.

A senior official confirmed that no steps were afoot to control wheat smuggling.