ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: The centre on Monday asked the provincial governments to be vigilant against the black marketing of wheat and told Sindh to expedite lifting of the commodity from Passco to check increasing prices of wheat and flour.

The government directed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan to start a phased release of sugar to the market in order to bring down its prices that had witnessed a sudden rise despite a surplus production last year.

The decisions were taken at a meeting presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and attended among others by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan. According to an official statement, the meeting was informed that the rising trend in wheat and wheat flour prices had been arrested.

With the import of one million ton wheat for buffer stock the supply situation would improve and put downward pressure on the price, it was told. Reviewing the wheat importing process, the meeting directed the TCP chairman to expedite the import to augment supply.

The measures taken by the provinces to stabilize the wheat prices also came under discussion. The provinces were told to check hoarding. The Sindh government was asked to expedite the lifting of wheat from Passco.

The meeting noted with concern that sugar price had gone up during July despite the production of sugar more than the domestic requirement. It asked the TCP chairman to gradually start releasing the sugar from its stock to take the price back to pre-July level.

The meeting instructed the secretaries of the concerned ministries to keep vigil on the prices of food items.