‘Flawed’ wheat release system blamed for flour crisis

Mill owners seek procedure for direct procurement from Passco

ISLAMABAD: The representative body of the mill owners on Thursday blamed the flaws in the wheat release system for the recent flour price hike in the country.

“There is no shortage of wheat in the country. However, certain factors contributed to it [flour price hike],” Asim Raza, the chairman of the Flour Mills Association, informed the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research.

The Senate panel met with Senator Muzafar Hussain Shah in the chair to discuss the recent flour crisis and the smuggling and hoarding of wheat.

Raza urged the committee to push for a procedure through which the flour mills would be able to procure wheat directly from the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco).

He added that a large quantity of wheat was also consumed by feed mills.

Muhammad Naeem Butt, the head of the association’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter, informed the committee that the wheat consumption in his province stood at 1.2 million tonnes against the countrywide figure of 4.6 million tonnes.

“This has led to the procurement of wheat from private markets and the increase in prices,” he added.

“Punjab and Sindh, despite directions, did not provide wheat to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.”

The representatives of mill owners maintained that to prevent a crisis in the future, it was necessary to keep wheat required by 50% of the country’s population in stock at all times.

Punjab, Sindh have enough ‘wheat reserves’

The chairman of the committee stressed the need for formulating standard operating procedures for major crops in Pakistan.
“The minimum support price for these crops must be determined as well,” he added.

Shah said the provincial governments must procure wheat at the right time and avoid any delay.

The chairman highlighted the importance of facilitating farmers and grating them subsidies.

Senator Najma Hameed, Senator Sajjad Husssain Turi, and senior officers of the national food security and research ministry, Passco and the provincial food departments also attended the meeting.

A day earlier, the Senate panel was informed by the food departments of Sindh and Punjab that there was no shortage of wheat in their provinces.

The panel was informed that the prices of wheat started to rise in May last year and the authorities had asked the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet to ban its export thrice in June and convene a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee. However, the meeting was called after a delay of two and a half months.