ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: The Federal Food Committee (FFC) on Friday asked the Sindh government to take measures to bring down flour price in the province, particularly in Karachi, and show-cause notices were served on dozens of mills across the country for not lifting their wheat quota.
The committee has also directed the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) to start purchasing private wheat stocks in coming weeks to achieve this year’s official reserves’ target of 7 million tons compared to the unachieved target of 5 million tons last year.
Briefing newsmen here on the latest flour situation, the FFC chairman, Let- Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan said he had asked the Sindh government to bring down the ex-mills price of flour which was higher in the province than other parts of the country.
Flour is being sold at Rs340-350 per 20 kg at the gates of mills (ex mills rate in Sindh) compared to Rs285 in Punjab.
Under existing rules, mills in Punjab are grinding 70pc of government’s wheat and 30pc of their own. And all provinces are required to do so. However, 100pc of wheat being grinded by the Sindh-based mills are supplied from the government’s godowns. But, the price is still higher in Sindh than Punjab, and need to be brought down.
The committee has also started consultations with the Pakistan Flour Mills Association in order to make the mills grind their 30pc daily share and not rely wholly on government-subsidised wheat.
The FFC has stressed that the issue of wheat support price needed to be resolved in order to achieve the official procurement target. It said there was need to ensure that the government’s wheat procurement efforts this year were not offset by private parties.
Last year, because of private parties’ intrusion the government missed the procurement target.
Punjab has also agreed to procure wheat on behalf of other provinces on request. But, the provinces would have to shift wheat to their stores as soon as possible. The Passco has been directed to build its storage capacities in the NWFP and Balochistan so that wheat is available there from the start of the year.
Balochistan has also completed its 25,000 tons of provincial reserves and has started from Friday supplying full quota to mills -- 2,000 tons a day-– compared to 1,200 tons it supplied even when the crisis was at its peak.
The FFC has found some problems in inter and intra-provincial movement of wheat and flour in some places, despite the fact that the government has lifted a ban on wheat movement. The district coordination officers are being directed to ensure smooth movement of wheat and wheat products.
Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan have also started releasing wheat quota to mills on a daily basis that would help in monitoring the grinding level of the mills and the flour they release in the market.
The FFC has also asked the Azad Kashmir government to submit a PC-1 for construction of wheat silos in its territory. The AJK has its storage facility in Rawalpindi.
Forty-five mills in different parts of the country did not lift the wheat quota assigned to them, including 18 in Sindh. The FFC has yet to disclose the names of the owners of these mills.
The Sindh government has sent wheat samples from nine areas for laboratory test. The test results of one sample says the flour was fit for human consumption. Results of eight other samples are awaited.
GRAM: The Passco has decided to dispose of its gram stocks and the FFC has asked provinces to submit their requirements to Minfal before Feb 10 to procure gram.
