KARACHI: The Sindh government has fixed the wheat sale price of Rs3,250 per 100 kg (polypropylene bag) and Rs3,315 (jute bag) but has not yet started issuing wheat to the flour millers.

Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Sindh Zone Chairman Mohammad Jawed Yousuf told Dawn that the provincial cabinet had announced the new price four days back but the Food Department is reluctant in releasing wheat.

“I have talked to Secretary Food Rashid Khan on Friday for immediate release of wheat but he said he will provide the grain after receiving minutes of the cabinet meeting, which are awaited yet,” FPMA chief said.

He said that Punjab had already fixed the issue price of wheat at Rs3,250 for both polypropylene and jute bags one and a half months ago and millers are getting wheat.

Jawed said he could not understand the reason of delay in releasing wheat this year. He recalled that Sindh government last year had fixed the issue price in August and started releasing wheat in early September. Sindh has 1.7 million tonnes of wheat left from current crop and last year’s unsold stocks.

Millers are mainly procuring Punjab wheat available in the open market at Rs3,515 per 100 kg bag, which was Rs3,350 a month back.

The price of flour number 2.5 had already been raised to Rs38 per kg from Rs37 last month followed by the price of fine flour and maida (super fine flour) to Rs40 from Rs39 per kg.

“We have decided to hold any further price hike of flour varieties in a hope to get wheat from the Sindh government very soon,” he said that 20-25 mills in Karachi out of the total 90 have stopped their operations, while a number of mills have slowed down wheat grinding capacity by at least 50 per cent due to high price and drying up of wheat stocks in the open market.

“Flour is coming to Karachi from Punjab in higher quantities,” he claimed.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2018