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| December 11, 2007 | Tuesday | Ziqa'ad 30, 1428 |
KARACHI: Flour millers to get enhanced supply
KARACHI, Dec 10: The Sindh government though very late has finally tried to avert a major wheat and flour crisis ahead of Eidul Azha by making a decision that flour millers in Karachi will get 15 per cent to 20 per cent enhanced wheat supply from the city’s warehouse for the next couple of weeks.
The decision was made at a meeting, presided over by Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rahman and attended by a four-member delegation of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Sindh Circle that called on him on Monday.
“A mill is getting 2,280 bags of 100kg per week from the food department at present. Now they will get 15 per cent to 20 per cent more than the quota,” PFMA chairman Chaudhry Ansar Jawed said, adding that the chief secretary had issued orders for the increased quota and challans for procurement of wheat had also been issued to millers.
Around 72 mills in Karachi had been getting 30 per cent wheat from Sindh Food Department and 70 per cent from PASSCO’s warehouse in Punjab.
He said the markets were expected to see some positive developments like decline in wheat prices. However, he said, it was hard to say at this moment that the flour rates would come down immediately.
Ansar Jawed, who was heading the delegation, said the rate of flour produced by mill would come down if wheat rates came down in open markets.
Millers had enhanced the 80kg flour price from Rs1,450 to Rs1,525 and Rs1,550 on Thursday. The whole wheat flour (chakki atta) price had also surged to Rs24 from Rs22 per kilogram.
However, retailers and wholesalers say that the markets remained short of flour on Monday as wheat rates had fallen by Rs100 per 100kg bag after the PFMA delegation’s meeting with the chief secretary. Wheat rates had climbed to Rs2,000 per 100kg bag in the morning but the rates had come down to Rs1,900 in the evening after the meeting, they say.
With a slight difference, Ansar Jawed quoted wheat rates at Rs1,825 Rs1,850 in the evening after touching the figure of Rs1,900. He quoted mill flour rate of Rs1,525 per 80 kg bag.
The PFMA head said that around 30 mills out of total 72 mills, which had been closed down because of high prices of wheat and its shortage, will resume their operations in a day or two after the release of wheat from Karachi warehouses.
Karachi had been facing immense shortage of wheat as 80 per cent supplies from Punjab had not yet been resumed, he said, adding that the chief secretary had assured the delegation for taking up this matter at the federal level.
The PFMA had also written a letter to President Pervez Musharraf on Monday urging him to check the action plan devised by the government aimed at curbing smuggling of wheat to Afghanistan. The officials concerned were lagging behind as far as implementation on the action plan was concerned, stated the letter. Excessive wheat smuggling from Punjab to Afghanistan and Central Asia had caused increase in price of wheat and its byproducts. The price at which wheat is smuggled (i.e. around $275 per ton) is less than half the price at which Pakistan is compelled to import ($500 per ton). Recent decision of imposing 35 per cent duty on the export of wheat flour was a trap.
Karachi has a population of 17.5 million and its monthly wheat requirement is 170,000 tons. The total wheat consumption of the province is 325,000 tons per month.
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