PHOTO: REUTERS
“We had sent a summary to Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Monday to end the government’s wheat procurement drive.”
Speaking to the media, he stated that the procurement will be stopped in the next few days. “Flour mills will be able to buy bulk stocks.”
The conclusion of procurement by the food department will significantly reduce the prices of wheat in the market and flour mills will be able to fix the rate of flour accordingly, he added.
The government will ensure that there is no artificial increase in flour prices, he maintained.
Meanwhile, flour mill owners announced a new pricing formula in Punjab. In each district, ex-mill prices will be fixed by adding Rs100 grinding charges to the cost of 20kg of wheat in the open market. The retail price of a 20kg bag of flour will be fixed by adding Rs25 to cover transportation cost and dealer’s profit.
Under the new pricing formula, the price of a flour bag in southern Punjab will increase by Rs50 to Rs65 while that in central Punjab and Rawalpindi will increase by Rs100 to Rs120.
The senior minister said the price of wheat was different in every district. “Therefore, a uniform price of flour will not be fixed in the entire province.”
A statement issued by Flour Mills Association President Abdul Rauf Mukhtar said that, at the request of the government, they did not increase the price of flour during Ramazan but now the price of wheat had gone up to between Rs1,600 and Rs1,700.
He said the mill owners had decided that the ex-mill price will be fixed by adding Rs100 grinding charges. “We will do our best to minimise the burden on people already suffering from the economic impact of the lockdown imposed due to coronavirus.However, the prices are unlikely to fall sharply in the next three weeks.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2020.
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