LAHORE, Sept 20: Retailers have threatened to go on strike if the government officials do not stop arresting them on charges of high flour price.

“The crisis is still not over as retailers are neither getting flour at the official rate nor according to their requirements,” Karyana Merchants Association president Rao Muhammad Akram told Dawn.

He said most of the retailers had approached him with complaints on both accounts during the last two days.

The government should first ensure supply on its declared price and then arrest those selling it at higher price, he said.

Dilating on the nature of common complaints, Mr Rao said that “if a retailer places an order for three truckloads, he is told to wait for at least fives days, which shows that millers are either reluctant to grind all wheat they are getting or they are short of grain.”

On the price front, he says that the retailers are hardly getting 30 per cent of their order at the official price. “If a retailer gets one truckload at Rs285 per 20kg, the other two will available to him at Rs300. Under these circumstances, which are unfolding right under the nose of government officials, the retailers cannot be held responsible.”

The millers, while admitting individual complaints of flour sale at high price, said generally it was not true. Mr Khaleeq Arshad of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association says that there are some complaints but they have been taken care of and the situation is now normal.

Talking about delayed supplies, he says that five-day time lag has always been there because the millers have to take care of all their clients. They also take clients credibility into account before meeting their orders. All these factors cause delay. But, it is a normal practice. If a miller has 1,000 clients and all of them place orders simultaneously, he cannot meet them at one time. The basic fact which the officials are monitoring is that the wheat the millers are getting is being grinded or not. If yes, where is it going?” he asked.

He says the problem is not with supply chain any more, but with market sentiment. The retailers are placing huge orders as they perceive it to be most propitious time for business. This perception will be for a few days and things will return to normal, he hopes.