KARACHI: The consumption of wheat has fallen to nearly 110,000 tonnes during Ramazan in Karachi compared to the monthly average of 150,000 tonnes in summer.

A flour miller said the decline was mainly due to the use of alternative foods by people in Ramazan and the closure of hotels and restaurants. Moreover, people also focus on rice during the holy month.

Consumption in winter stands normally higher as 180,000 tonnes of wheat are ground every month to make flour (atta). Sindh’s overall consumption of wheat reaches 360,000 tonnes in winter and 300,000 tonnes in summer.

The per-person consumption of flour in Pakistan is 124 kilograms a year, said Chaudhry Nasir Abdullah, the chairman of Pakistan Flour Mills Association’s Sindh chapter.

However, Pakistanis are eating costly flour due to higher support price of wheat at Rs1,350 per 40kg, he said: “The support price of wheat should be Rs800 per 40kg. This will make its exports feasible and bring down prices as well.”

Demand for chickpeas, sugar and rice registers increase

Despite surplus wheat crop in Pakistan, exports to Afghanistan have become negligible due to high prices here. Afghanistan was buying cheap wheat from various neighbouring countries, Mr Abdullah said.

Wheat prices in Pakistan are almost double at $350 a tonne compared to global prices of $160-180 a tonne.

However, despite lower prices on the world market, Pakistan’s wheat imports remained nil during July-April 2016-17, as they were a year earlier. The government has imposed 60 per cent import duty and 5pc income tax to discourage imports and benefit growers.

With an increase of around 10pc in international wheat prices during July-April, wheat exports went up to 575 tonnes fetching $172,000 during the period compared to 450 tonnes ($158,000) a year ago.

Prices of various flour varieties have been unchanged for the last one and a half months due to slack demand. A 100kg bag of wheat sells for Rs3,125 in the open market. The Sindh government has last year’s carryover stock of around 700,000 tonnes.

Unlike wheat, the consumption of chickpeas (chana) went up to nearly 200,000 tonnes during Shaban and Ramazan from 66,000 tonnes a month. Chickpeas are used for making besan, or gram flour.

The chairman of Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Association, Anis Majeed, said that taking the wholesale price of grams at Rs80 per kg, the amount spent on the Shaban and Ramazan consumption comes to around Rs16 billion compared to normal monthly consumption of Rs5.28bn.

Gram is the largest Rabi pulse crop, accounting for 76pc of total production of pulses in the country. Its production increased 25.5pc year-on-year to 359,000 tonnes during 2016-17. However, keeping in view the consumption of grams at around 750,000 tonnes, a considerable amount of the commodity is being imported.

The consumption of Kabuli chana (white gram) swelled to nearly 50,000 tonnes during Shaban and Ramazan from 15,000 tonnes during normal months. Taking the price of Kabuli chana at Rs150 per kg, the overall sales come to around Rs7.5bn.

The monthly consumption of sugar, which normally stands at 400,000 tonnes, surged to 1.2 million tonnes Shaban and Ramazan as it is heavily used in making juices and squashes. Based on Rs53 per kg wholesale price, its sales in Ramazan and Shaban come to Rs63.6bn as compared to Rs21bn in normal months.

Mr Majeed said the demand for rice usually goes up by 10-20pc in the 15 days leading to Eidul Fitr due to a rise in iftar parties. Moreover, people buy more rice for making various dishes on Eid.

Karachi Fresh Fruits and Merchants Welfare Association’s President Zahid Awan said that depending on crop availability the demand for fruit in the first 10 days of Ramazan rose by 100pc as compared to normal days. Demand was 150pc higher last year.

From 11th to 20th Ramazan, demand for fruit goes down to 70pc while in last 10 days ahead of Eid the demand reaches its normal as buyers shift their spending towards Eid-related items, he said.

He said the wholesale rate of Sindhri and Chaunsa mangoes is Rs70 per kg each, but retailers are selling them for Rs120-140 per kg.

The wholesale rate of banana is Rs80-100 per dozen compared to the retail price of Rs100-120.

The price of melon is Rs40-45 per kg in the wholesale market, but retailers sell them at Rs60-80. The wholesale price of garma is Rs55-60 per kg compared to retail price of Rs80-100.

A retailer said the consumption of milk and yogurt surged by at least 50pc during Ramazan than normal days.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2017