LAHORE, Sept 23: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association does not intend to reduce flour price by Rs100 per 100kg during Ramazan, and the reduction will depend upon wheat release price fixed by the government.

At a press conference here on Friday, PFMA chairman Haji Mohammad Ibrahim said the rumour was based on some misunderstanding. The price would entirely depend on the official release price.

He insisted that the government must liberalize wheat release as the present form of wheat release was discriminating against some mills at the cost of others. Every mill must get wheat equally, he said.

The government should also announce 2005-06 wheat release policy, he demanded.

The issues of release policy include weight of wheat, quality and delayed payments to millers. The food department, he said, must review its release policy under the light of these problems. The department stores are also located in far-flung areas and mills end up paying hefty bills for transportation. All these issues must be dealt with by the food department, he said.

He said imposition of a 15 per cent regulatory duty on flour export to Afghanistan was affecting industry’s health, and the official policies were encouraging other countries establishing their market in Pakistan. These factor were damaging PFMA.

The industry understands its national duty of maintaining demand and supply balance in the country, and the association assures the government to ensure flour supply according to demand, he said.