KARACHI, May 30: The Sindh government and chakki flour owners have reached agreement to provide chakki atta to consumers at Rs25 per kg from Saturday. Till Friday, it was available at Rs30-32 per kg as compared to Rs26-28 per kg some 20 days back.

Karachi Atta Chakki Association general secretary Mohammad Anis Shahid said in view of a deadlock between the Sindh government and the flour millers over wheat price, the association has decided to sell chakki atta at reduced rate in the city.

He said that the chakki owners had lifted 3,000 bags of wheat on Thursday and Friday at the rate of Rs22 per kg through six traders in Karachi, who were allowed to lift wheat from the interior Sindh markets.

After adding Re one per kg for wheat cleaning, the chakki atta will be sold at Rs25 per kg, he added.

However, he said that the cost (from wheat buying to selling of flour) comes to Rs4 per kg, which means that chakki atta should sell at Rs27 per kg but it will be sold at lower rates on the request of the Sindh government.

He said initially some 150 chakki owners had lifted 10-12 wheat bags each on Friday for making atta.

However, he said that initially, the Sindh government had given the permission to the chakki owners in the city to bring 3,000 bags a day from the interior market.

Anis claimed that the flour mills were not purchasing wheat from the interior Sindh, that is why, the chakki owners had been asked to lift the wheat and supply flour at the reduced rates.

Chakki atta and fine atta were being retailed at Rs24 per kg each on May 1, while atta No. 2.5 was available at Rs22 per kg. At the same time retailers were charging Rs240-250 for Ashrafi 10-kg bag.

Retailers said that they cannot sell the Ashrafi bag at lower rates as they were getting it at Rs280 from the producer.

Many retailers have resorted to heavy hoarding of fine atta and other varieties, especially Ashrafi in anticipation of further increase in its rate.

The government has been focusing on checking hoarding of wheat but it has failed to check the stock piling of flour varieties at the retailers’ level.

Meanwhile, a retailer said that the 80 kg atta bag, which was available at Rs1,850-1,900 some 20 days back, now carries a price tag of over Rs2,000. In the first week of this month, it was priced at Rs1,725.

The price of 100 kg wheat bag is Rs2,250 as compared to Rs1,920 in the second week of this month, he added.

In-charge price control of the city government, Matanat Ali Khan, said efforts to curb profiteering were in full swing and retailers were being imposed fines on violations. The official retail rate for fine atta is Rs23.50 and Rs25 per kg for chakki atta.

Former chairman of Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Shaikh Akhtar Hussain said that the 100 kg wheat bag price in the city’s open market is Rs2,225.

However, the price of 80 kg bag of atta No. 2.5 surged to Rs2,100 on Thursday from Rs2,025 on Wednesday. He added that Ashrafi bag’s wholesale price had been enhanced to Rs280 from Rs270.

He said currently, millers were getting wheat from the open markets of seven districts. “If the wheat supply is allowed from all the 14 districts of Sindh, the 80 kg bag of atta No. 2.5 will drop by Rs200 per bag,” he added.

Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana adds: Short supply of wheat has once again created acute shortage of wheat flour in the city resulting in prices rising above Rs30 per kg.

The daily wheat requirement of the city stands between 5,000 to 5,500 bags (100kg each) but according to flour mills restriction on movement of wheat from one district to another was a major factor for shortage of wheat flour.

The Sindh government issued permits to flour mills allowing them to get wheat supply of 600 bags daily but the millers complained that the quantity never reached the mill.

According to reports the Sindh government has already procured around 0.55 million tons of wheat against its total target of 0.7 million tons. The province, which normally produces around 2.6 to 2.7 million tons, is expected to harvest much less crop at around 2.2 to 2.3 million tons this season.

As a result of short supply of wheat 80 per cent of city’s flour mills are not operative and millers claim that only 70 mills are partially working thereby causing acute shortage of flour.

The provincial government from May 23 to 27, allowed some relaxation in wheat movement by increasing daily quantity per mill to 1,200 bags, which did improve flour supply to the city for a couple of days and helped stabilise prices.

The ex-mill price of wheat flour has been fixed at Rs27, which means that open market price of flour by any standard would be couple of rupees higher to cover transportation charges and retailer’s profit.

However, they were unanimous in their demand that since there was total ban on inter-provincial movement of wheat, the Sindh government should allow Karachi millers to get their wheat supplies from Dadu, Sangarh and Nawabshah districts, which still have wheat stocks. When the government fixed ex-mill price of flour at Rs22 per kg, the prices in the open market stood at Rs25 to Rs27 per kg, however, when ex-mill prices were revised upward to Rs27 per kg the open market rates jumped to above Rs30 per kg, they added.