The Sindh food department has approached the provincial government to revise the wheat release price for the ongoing season 2025-26 so that wheat releases may begin easily from its godowns. Roller flour millers and chakki owners begin lifting wheat, usually, from the food department’s godowns in the province around this time of year.

However, so far, none have approached the food department to buy wheat even as November came to an end, and for good reason. The Sindh food department has fixed the release price of wheat at Rs9,500 per 100 kg bag — a price exclusive of transportation, labour and some other charges which take the total cost of millers for a 100kg bag to over Rs10,000 — amidst fears of adulterated or unhealthy wheat.

The flour millers and chakki owners, however, have been buying grain from the open market at Rs9,400-Rs9,500 per 100kg bag, including miscellaneous expenses.

As it stands, food officials agree with the millers’ point of view: why buy wheat from the government when quality, cheap grain is available in the open market? The supply of official, government wheat costs them more since they have to bear labour charges for loading and unloading the grain.

Wheat millers bypass government godowns for open market grain, which they say is cleaner, healthier, and costs less

Certain “hidden costs” are also involved that discourage them from dealing with the government. Furthermore, when millers buy grain from the market, they save on a few things, including time that is otherwise wasted in the cumbersome process.

“Firstly, in the private market, we are provided with a 102kg bag by the trader at our doorstep, so that after wastage deduction, we are left with a net 100kg of grain. Secondly, the food department’s weighbridges are faulty, and the grain is either adulterated or unclean; thus, we incur unnecessary quantity deductions. Transportation and labour charges are extra expenses,” said Anwar Soomro, a flour mill owner from Tando Allahyar.

Realising this situation, the provincial food department has approached the Sindh government to have the wheat release rate revised downward and set at between Rs8,000 and Rs8,500 per 100kg. This may attract millers and chakki owners to purchase/lift the grain from food godowns.

“Yes, we have approached the Sindh cabinet in this regard to get the cabinet’s nod for a revised issue price from the current Rs9,500 down to Rs8,500. It will enable us to clear carryover stocks after the announcement to procure wheat at a support price of Rs3,500 this season,” said Sindh Secretary of Food, Bachal Rahpoto.

If stocks are not depleted, then fresh procurement will become difficult. The Sindh cabinet is to consider the food department’s request for a downward revision of prices when it meets today (Dec 1). The food department plans to procure around 1.2 million tonnes of wheat, as per the government’s decision after discontinuing procurement last year; hence, it is essential to deplete stocks due to a lack of space. There is currently an annual mark-up of around Rs2 billion on the stocks procured so far.

A liability of Rs176 billion was outstanding against the food department for wheat procured in the past. The Sindh food department could procure 0.78m tonnes of wheat in 2022-23 against a 1.4m tonnes target at a support price of Rs4,000 per 40kg, while in 2023-24 the procurement/support price of Rs4,000 per 40kg remained unchanged, but procurement did not meet the 0.9m tonnes target.

The provincial food department, according to a safe estimate, had a stock of around 1.34m tonnes, inclusive of 2022-23’s wheat crop, damaged during heavy rainfall then. According to the food department’s assessment, around 1.27m tonnes of wheat were release-worthy and could meet consumer demand for healthy wheat.

The millers, like Junaid Aziz, President of the All Pakistan Flour Mills Association South Zone, talked about why he and other millers avoid buying wheat from the food department. He argued that open-market traders ensured that every single bag of grain was fit for human consumption and that such buying was credit-based, thus providing a cushion for millers to arrange financing.

Millers also remained sceptical about the quality of existing stocks, as the food department did not conduct third-party validation or evaluation of carryover stocks to determine the health of the wheat, despite repeated claims of fumigation. Chakki and flour mill owners believed that only proper evaluation and validation could reveal the position of the government’s grain stocks.

In terms of prices, the open market was offering Rs9,400-Rs9,500 per 100kg bag of quality grain, and it was the trader’s responsibility to ensure delivery at the mills. Mr Aziz’s calculation indicated that even imported wheat costs Rs3,400 to Rs3,500 per 40kg at port, including the Rs500 withholding tax per 100kg bag, which goes to the government’s kitty.

But if wheat were to be bought from the food department, an advance payment would have to be made via a challan. “Even then, we are not sure about the quality of the grain to be released. So, why go through so much hassle when a better option is open?” Mr Aziz asked.

He even opposed the Ramazan package because such subsidies don’t reach actual consumers. He believed the private sector should handle the wheat crop and that the government should stay out of the entire process.

For the Karachi market’s flour needs, Mr Aziz explained, around 250,000 tonnes of wheat were required per month during the winter season, as food consumption increases in the cold season. In the summer season, consumption drops to 200,000 tonnes of wheat.

Insofar as the actual availability of wheat in the market was concerned, he argued the government had resources to determine how much grain was in the market and would remain available until the arrival of the new crop began in late February.

Conventionally, wheat procurement starts in April, after the food department begins setting up wheat procurement centres. However, growers start selling grain in the market without waiting for official procurement, as they also face a cumbersome procedure for supplying wheat to get the support price.

For the 2025-26 season, wheat sowing has already started, and 43.6 per cent of the sowing (1.4m acres) of wheat had been achieved by Nov 21 out of the agriculture department’s sowing target of 3.2m acres. Comparatively, last year, against a sowing target of 3.1m acres, only 1.1m acres, or 36pc, were brought under wheat cultivation, according to the agriculture department’s figures.

The Sindh government was also providing small farmers with one to 25 acres of land a subsidy in the form of inputs to boost wheat production. The province had informed the federal government that it aims to procure 0.8–1.2 million tonnes of wheat this year. It had also announced a subsidy programme in October for farmers.

In order to achieve maximum wheat cultivation, disbursement of a package of Rs24,700 per acre in the form of provision of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea bags among farmers has already begun under the Sindh government’s Wheat Cultivation Programme, involving a whopping Rs55bn initiative.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 1st, 2025