LAHORE, Sept 26: The government seems to have reconciled with the realities of wheat market and accepted the current price of around Rs550 per maund, against its own release price of Rs465, and flour price of Rs300 per 20kg.

According to government claims, the official effort has been able to bring the price down by around Rs60 per 40kg in the last few days, but it has refused to go down any further.

“Yes, one can say that,” says an official of the Punjab Food Department. The government, he says, knows that it does not have stocks to “flood the market” in real sense of the word. Since it has recognised the limits of its influence on the market, it is taking the current price as fate accompli and declaring it a success, he adds.

He agrees that the government’s failure to conduct a massive crackdown on hoarders has only emboldened the stockists, who are virtually ruling the market and the government seems to be settled with whatever reduction of price its releases could cause.

The stockists are still holding their stocks without any fear of crackdown, and keeping the market on tenterhooks, he said.

“These hoarders now know that the wheat market would slowly get dry in the next few weeks and the millers would need additional commodity to meet the demand,” says a wheat trader from the city. They are still holding stocks with the hope of manipulating market in the next few months or so when it becomes even drier, he adds.

“All the free markets are open to speculative pressure, and Pakistan’s wheat market is no exception. At present, it is working under the speculation, which can almost be statistically proven, that hoarders will get yet another chance to fleece the consumers and every one else — the government, traders, millers and, of course, consumers —

are resigned to this fear,” he says.

“The official policy of keeping the market free at the cost of consumer could also be gauged from the fact that its entire effort is limited to ensure grinding and tracking of its own stocks,” says Muhammad Shabir — a wheat watcher from central Punjab.

“The departmental and government representatives posted at the mills are supposed to ensure grinding of wheat that millers get from official stocks and flour getting to market. No one has so far touched the hoarders in spite of repeated claims to do so. If the media reports are something to go by, no crackdown is in sight either. So, the market is free for hoarders and squeezed for common man, thanks to the donor-driven agenda of the government,” he adds.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan has opened the tender for 100,000 tons only, instead of total import of one million tons, says Ihsanul Haq — a trader. “It is in no way a sign of the official plan to “flood the market” and bring the price down. With this quantity of import, the millers can hardly be forced to release their stocks for the fear of flooded market.

They also know that importing one million tons of wheat at this stage, when the world market is already under pressure due to a bad crop, is a time-consuming and expensive proposition.

Due to port capacity at Karachi, only a limited quantity can be released. All these calculations and official procrastination are hardly any encouraging signs for the common man,” he says.