Wheat prices in Punjab's open market have broken all national records. On Sunday, the price of 40kgs of wheat in Rawalpindi crossed Rs2,300 per maund, while the rate also crossed Rs2,000 in the other three provinces.
Despite record prices, the availability of wheat from private suppliers in the market was very low. Due to the extraordinary difference of Rs800 per maund in the prices of government and private wheat, illegal sale of government quota was also reported in some districts.
Flour mill owners were unable to meet the demand of their dealers due to low availability of wheat as compared to the requirements. As a result, shortage of flour in the market reached between 50 and 55 per cent.
In addition, concerns were being raised about withdrawal of the leading role of the food department by a significant number of members of the provincial assembly in wheat flour issues and about growing interference of the district administration resulting in shortcomings rather than improvements.
According to details obtained by The Express Tribune, the price of private wheat in Rawalpindi reached Rs2,300 per maund, which was a new record.
The price of wheat in Lahore was Rs2,250 per maund, Rs2,200 per maund in Haroonabad and Rs2,150 per maund in Rahim Yar Khan. The price of wheat in Peshawar had been recorded at Rs2,200 per maund, while in Karachi it had been recorded at Rs2,030 per maund.
Flour mill owners say that despite the extremely high price, private wheat was not available to meet the demand. Due to high prices and scarcity of private wheat, mill owners were unable to supply the required quantity of flour to flour dealers, large stores and small shopkeepers in their distribution network.
Due to this, the availability of flour in the market ws severely affected. One of the reasons for the increase in wheat price in the open market was the strict ban on wheat transportation to Punjab by Sindh government.
Moreover, members of the provincial assembly, ministers and bureaucrats begun to express serious concerns over the results of the district administrations’ actions regarding the ongoing wheat crisis. The crisis was being blamed on the poor performance of the district administrations, especially the crackdown during the wheat procurement campaign on stockists.
According to government officials, the food department's experiment of reducing its leading role in flour and wheat matters and putting the district administrations in the driving seat also failed miserably in the wheat procurement drive and the procurement target of 4.5 million tonnes was not achieved.
Even in the toughest crackdown on hoarders, only 80,000 tonnes of wheat could be recovered, despite the involvement of bureaucrats across the province, including all organisations and agencies.
The food department had procured a total of 4.08 million tonnes of wheat, out of which four million tonnes of wheat was sold by the farmers themselves to the government centres.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2020.
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