PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa food department has claimed that there is no shortage of wheat and its flour in the province due to smooth supplies from Punjab.

“We are regularly getting flour and wheat from Punjab,” food secretary retired Captain Mushtaq Ahmed told Dawn amid media reports about flour shortage and higher price in the province.

The secretary also ruled out the possibility of wheat and flour smuggling to Afghanistan saying all border crossings are properly checked.

However, the representatives of flourmills and dealers told Dawn that supply of flour and wheat to the province from Punjab had alarmingly declined, while the available stocks would last until tomorrow (Monday).

According to the official documents of the food department, 575 trucks supplied wheat and its flour from Punjab to the province from April 29 to May 7 and the supplies included 3802 metric tons flour for bakery products, 8855MT for general use and 3570MT for tandoors, while the local mills ground 15,181MT wheat during the period.

The food department established two check posts before the start of March, one on the Indus Highway at Zangali point and one at the entry point of Khyber tribal district to stop illegal wheat smuggling to Afghanistan. However, no wheat smuggling was reported.

The documents show that all Afghanistan-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border points were being managed and manned by the federal agencies, including Customs, FC and FIA, while the Pak-Afghan border was sealed, so no smuggling was reported.

The documents also reveal that borders between Punjab and KP as well as between KP and Balochistan were sealed and therefore, only legal transportation of wheat and flour is allowed.

They show that the demand of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa market and trade from Punjab is checked at every level, so smuggling to Afghanistan is not possible.

The documents reveal that KP with 40 million population has a total requirement of 50 million MT wheat with per head required 124kg per annum.

The total share of the KP food department’s procurement is around 25 per cent of the total consumption of wheat and another 25 per cent of the requirement is covered by local production of wheat in the province, while the rest is met through open trade from Punjab by millers and dealers throughout the year.

“The daily flour requirement of the province is about 12,000MT. Around 50 per cent of the requirement is met through open trade and the rest by the food department or through grinding of locally produced wheat by flour mills,” a document reveals.

The documents said in inter-provincial trade, all provinces allowed the movement of wheat and flour after the checking of permits, licences and registration, as without papers, no trade was allowed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by the government of Punjab.

They added that the present market pressure was developed due to the government’s Ramazan Package in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and procurement drive in Punjab.

When contacted, Flour Dealers Association president Sadaqat Khan said flour supply from Punjab had reduced from 40 to five trucks daily as the Punjab government had established check points on the roads leading to KP.

“Reduction of supplies from Punjab has increased flour price by Rs100-Rs150 per 20kg bag,” he said.

Mr Sadaqat said the local flour dealers had stocks for two days only and if supplies from Punjab didn’t increase to the ‘routine level’, KP would witness a flour crisis.

Also, executive member of the All Pakistan Flour Mills Association Haji Iqbal Khan said every flour mill in Peshawar had the stock of 1000-2000 wheat bags, which were sufficient for three to four days only.

He also told Dawn that the province would have a flour crisis if wheat supply didn’t start from Punjab.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2022