May 22, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

KARACHI, May 21: Retail markets have started facing shortage of various flour varieties.

Retailers in various areas of the city said they have not been getting normal supplies for the last few days. They said consumers might face problems as there are limited stocks available.

The Ashrafi atta (10kg bag) stocks have depleted in most of the shops, and shopkeepers, who have few bags, are charging Rs260-270 per bag.

In the first week of May, Ashrafi brand atta was available at Rs240-250 per bag.

Retailers said that the millers had suspended flour supply to them, but they have, so far, not increased the rate further as prices were increased in the second week of May.

Retailers are charging Rs26-28 per kg for chakki atta, Rs27-28 per kg for fine and Rs26-27 per kg for mills atta.

On May 1, chakki, fine and mills atta (No 2.5) were selling at Rs24, Rs24 and Rs22 per kg, respectively. In many areas, retailers are charging Rs30 per kg for chakki atta. Market sources said some retailers might have stocked flour.

Retailer-Grocers Alliance Karachi President Mohammad Aslam said there was no supply of flour to the market for the last two days.

“Retailers have only two to three days of stocks, and situation may go out of control if supply is not restored from mills,” he said.

Many consumers, after smelling a possible shortage of flour, have started lifting the main staple food in higher quantities, he claimed.

Mr Aslam urged the government to improve wheat supply situation at the earliest, and said practical steps be taken to curb smuggling. He said shopkeepers were not involved in hoarding of flour as it was difficult for them to stock the commodity, and that too at a time when there is no supply from mills.

Karachi Retail Grocers Group General Secretary Farid Qureishi confirmed that stocks at retails shops are hardly for two to three days.

He, however, said supply of flour from mills is at the lowest ebb as 80 to 90 per cent of mills had been closed in Karachi. Retailers are getting flour from only one or two mills and that too in a very limited quantity which was not sufficient for the mega-city, like Karachi.

He urged the government to provide wheat to millers from its own godowns instead of asking them to lift from markets of the interior of Sindh.

He did not agree with Mr Aslam’s stance that consumers are buying flour in higher quantities for fear of its shortage.

Farid claimed that there had been a normal buying of flour at shops, so far.

Pakistan Flour Mills Association’s former chairman Shaikh Akhtar Hussain said of the 72 mills in Karachi, around 80 per cent are closed.

He said supply of flour to markets from a majority of the mills remains suspended for the last five days as mills have exhausted their wheat stocks.

Only 10 per cent of wheat is arriving in Karachi from the interior of Sindh which does not match the requirement of mills, he said.

He said that the association had urged the government to allow purchase of wheat from all the 14 districts as compared to the current permission of purchasing it from only six districts. Besides, the millers should get wheat as per their requirement.