KARACHI, Sept 19: Growing disparity in prices of wheat for consumers in Lahore and those in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta is not only becoming a burning political issue, but is also a cause of concern for millers and traders in all parts of the country including those from Punjab.

Wheat is now available at Rs14 and Rs14.50 a kilogram, bread (tandoori roti) at Rs2 a piece and wheat flour at Rs16 a kilogram in Lahore.

In Karachi, the wheat price in open market has crawled up to Rs25.50 a kilogram, flour Rs28 to Rs32 a kilogram and bread (tandoori roti) at Rs6 a piece.

In Peshawar, the wheat is selling at Rs28 a kilogram, flour at Rs32 to Rs34 a kilogram and bread at Rs8 to Rs10 a piece. In some places of NWFP bread was being sold at Rs15 a piece. It is worst in Balochistan where prices of wheat, flour and bread in remote parts is said to be highest in Pakistan.

The root cause for this disparity in prices is the Punjab government’s decision to restrict inter-provincial movement of wheat since the time of harvesting and its obstinacy to lift the ban despite repeated instructions from Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and the federal government.

“We consider Punjab government’s continued restriction on inter-provincial wheat movement is against Pakistan’s integrity and against the federal spirit of our constitution,” Bilal Sufi, a senior leader of Pakistan Flour Mills Association in Lahore, told Dawn on Friday.

“It is against the business principles where government intervenes to hurt the consumers of other parts of the country with its decisions,” he added.

Mr Sufi feels that people of all provinces have a right to get wheat, the main staple food, at uniform prices and without any distortion because of any provincial government’s action.

Many traders and millers in Lahore say that as people of Punjab have a right of access to Karachi sea port for international trade, to get gas supply from Balochistan and hydel electricity from NWFP, the people in all the other three provinces have equal right on wheat and rice being grown in Punjab.

Punjab government’s restriction on inter-provincial wheat movement has pushed up prices in the open market to Rs2,550 for a 100 kilogram bag in Karachi and traders and millers fear a further spiralling.

The Sindh Food Department is providing hardly 1,500 tons of wheat to local mills as against the local demand of more than 6,000 tons.

For bridging the demand gap millers are buying from the open market at Rs2,550 for a 100 kilogram bag. Flour obtained from the grinding of government-supplied wheat at Rs1,935 a 100 kilogram, the millers sell it at official price of Rs23.50 a kilogram.

But almost 75 per cent of grind product is sold at Rs27 or Rs28 a kilogram. Wheat in Karachi’s open market is trickling down from Punjab where wheat is available at Rs15 to Rs16 a kilogram and sold here at Rs25 a kilogram. Some brokers are also getting wheat from the stocks of powerful landlords in the interior Sindh.

Main objection of millers and traders in Karachi is that despite a restriction on inter-provincial wheat movement, Punjab government has failed in procuring targeted 5m tons and Passco one million tons. The Sindh Food department could also procure hardly 5 million tons.

After Eidul Fitr, the government is expected to fix a procurement price of Rs700 to Rs800 for 40 kilogram to encourage farmers grow more wheat and peg the domestic prices with those in India, Central Asia and Afghanistan to render smuggling uneconomical.

But this decision, the traders say will impact on domestic wheat prices in November, December and January, the critical pre-harvest period.