KARACHI, Oct 4: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is opening its first tender for import of 100,000 tons of wheat next Monday in the backdrop of reports that wheat prices in the open market continue to crawl up, pushing upward the flour prices for consumers to Rs20 a kg.

“We will hurry up the first shipment sometimes in the first week of November after receiving the bids,’’ the chairman of TCP, Abdul Malik, informed Dawn on Thursday.

He said the TCP would float immediately second tender after opening the first one on Monday “perhaps of a bigger quantity than one lakh tons.’’

The TCP chairman expressed the hope that reports of opening first import tender on Monday and floatation of a second one should ease down pressure on wheat prices in the market.

Nonetheless, prices of wheat and wheat flour showed no respite as Sindh chief minister’s instructions to millers to open fair price stalls and sale of flour at Rs13 a kilo proved to be merely cosmetic and “publicity stunt’’ to quote a market analyst.

Officials are warning of a further deterioration in wheat flour supply and prices during December in the city if the federal government fails to import quickly, and provide the Sindh government “200,000 to 300,000 tons to offset lean period from December to March.’’

In the meantime, the Sindh government has made arrangement with Passco to procure 100,000 tons to augment about half a million tons stocks.

“We are releasing 17,200 tons of wheat every week to mills in Karachi and about 20,000 tons to the rest of the province,’’ an official disclosed. Millers say that the Sindh government stocks are hardly enough to maintain supplies even for full month of November and there are fears of wheat supply dropping down low and flour prices going up to Rs25 a kg by last week of next month.

Market analysts wonder as to why in the first instance the government delayed release of wheat from its stocks till mid- September even when flour supplies were falling short, pushing flour prices to Rs18 a kg in the month of August and then now delaying wheat import after making an announcement on Sept 14.

“The hoarders are being given a free hand to regulate wheat and flour market,’’ declared a market analyst.

At the beginning of the current wheat season, the federal ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal) announced to build up a total stock of five million tons that would include four million tons of operational stock and one million ton of strategic reserves in anticipation of a bumper crop.

But the government announced export of half a million ton wheat from its carryover stocks in December 2006 for which an SRO was released in January 2006, and after harvesting a bumper crop, it allowed export from new crop also.

This premature decision to export wheat torpedoed wheat procurement programme and instead of 700,000 tons, the Sindh government could purchase less than 600,000 tons as speculators jumped in the field and to quote a minister and a senior bureaucrat, flour mills, warehouses, textile mills, empty buildings of schools and dispensaries and basic health units in rural areas were filled with wheat that was directly purchased from farmers.

Officials now explain that wheat has been massively used in chicken and animal feed because the price of broken rice and maize this season went too high and secondly the wheat is being smuggled to Afghanistan, India and Iran.

“Whatever may be the reason, the fact is that consumers in Pakistan have suffered a lot when a bumper wheat crop was harvested,’’ the market analyst said and wondered as to why no investigation was carried out of the whole scam.

“We exported wheat at hardly Rs12,000 to Rs13,000 a ton and will now import wheat for Rs25,000 to Rs27,000 a ton,’’ the market analyst said, pointing out that the TCP officials were indicating price range for wheat import from Russia, US and Canada at about 400 dollars a ton.

“It is whole scam of Rs30 to Rs35 billion and demands a thorough investigation,’’ he said.