LAHORE, Oct 18: The destruction of local food reserves in the quake-hit areas may force the federal government to import wheat — a decision it has been delaying for the last few months despite requests from Punjab.

“Punjab has started putting renewed pressure on the federal government to place import order for one million tons, as the relief operation has already created ripples in the flour market,” says an official of the Punjab Food Department.

The pressure is expected to grow in the coming months because the traditional local food reserves — wheat, maize and dried apricot — have largely been destroyed and these areas would heavily depend on Punjab for food supplies, he said.

In order to see the current pressure off, he said, the Punjab government had decided to start releasing wheat from its stocks from Oct 25 — at least 20 days earlier than its original planning of Nov 15.

It would also be releasing massive 20,000 tons a day so that it could safely see through the pressure created by relief operation, as massive quantity of flour was being dispatched to the quake-hit areas.

The federal government has also decided to release wheat at Rs425 per 40kg so that it does not end up contributing to price spiral in the market.

According to Director Food Punjab Muhammad Ijaz, at present 40kg wheat is costing the department Rs454. But the government would be providing it to the millers at the rate of Rs425 and take a hit of Rs29. The total subsidy at the present release price would be Rs1.8 billion. The government may cascade the price later, but it would not go beyond Rs435 per 40kg. But it would largely depend on how the market behaved, he said.

“Yes, the Punjab government feels that the federation has no option but to import one million tons of wheat,” he said. The provincial government had been requesting for import for quite some time and this new situation had only added urgency to its request.

“The relief activity has picked the pace and would put more pressure on the food market,” says a wheat market watcher from city. There are three roads leading to Kashmir from Punjab and wheat or flour would be travelling from all three. Another problem with the Punjab government would be that it would end up subsidizing wheat for the entire quake-hit areas, he said, and added: “It is reportedly asking the federal government to share the subsidy bill and also place immediately order for import.”

According to Khaliq Arshad of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association, the only consolation point with the government is that Karachi is comfortable. The private parties have already imported 250,000 tons of wheat and more is in the pipeline. If the pressure grows, the local import may also be resumed.

Sindh had only 180,000 tons of wheat last year, but this year it has 500,000 tons. Apart from these factors, he said, pressure would certainly grow but no one knew to what extent.