LAHORE, Oct 18: The Punjab Food Department has decided to provide wheat to flour mills at the rate of Rs320 per 40 kilograms and directed its regional deputy directors accordingly.

This was claimed by the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) in a press statement here on Thursday.

According to the PFMA, the announcement was aimed at stabilizing the wheat market that has been witnessing a steady rise for the last few weeks.

“It is basically a warning for hoarders against exploiting the situation,” says an official of the PFMA.

The food department has around 3.7 million tons of stocks and looking for ways to sell its wheat at the earliest. The flour mills normally start purchasing wheat around mid-August but delayed buying by almost two-and-a-half months due to easy availability of wheat in the market. This may negatively affect the stock position of the PFMA.

About the possibility of lowering the price, as recently done by the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to sell its stocks, a food department official claimed that it would not be done. It might trigger a downward spiral that would be dangerous for the wheat market, he said.

The department has already supplied wheat to most of its clients during the year, he said. It has supplied 0.915 tons to the NWFP against the target of one million tons. Sindh has also received 0.974 million tons against one-million-ton target. Balochistan, supposed to get 0.5 million tons, has already lifted 0.45 million tons. The Defence Ministry has got 0.23 million tons against 0.6 tons. The Azad Jummu and Kashmir government has taken 24,620 tons against its target of 25,000 tons and Northern Areas has also lifted 11,499 tons against 25,000 tons, he said.

Now the food department, along with the federal ministry of agriculture, food and livestock (MINFAL) is exploring the possibility of selling wheat to donor agencies to off load its stocks, he said.