Wheat supply cut may raise bread price

Food dept wants flour sold at Rs1,640 per 20kg

LAHORE:

Punjab is facing a shortage of wheat supply, due to which the price of flour has increased.

A 20-kilogramme bag of flour is selling at Rs1,250 in the provincial capital instead of the earlier price of Rs980.

Flour mills have also increased the price of a 15 kg bag from Rs1,300 to Rs1,350.

In the wake of depleting reserves of wheat in the province, the Punjab Food Department has proposed an increase in the price of a 20kg bag of flour from Rs980 to Rs1,640.

On the other hand, due to unavailability of subsidised flour, tandoor owners have also demanded that the government increase the price of roti.

Sources in the sector said the supply of subsidised wheat and flour had reduced by as much as 40 per cent across the province, due to which the price of a 20kg bag of flour had increased by Rs270 to Rs1,250 from Rs980.

Tandoor owners have urged the authorities to increase the notified price of roti, citing shortage of subsidised wheat.

Due to shortage of wheat and flour, shopkeepers are charging higher prices in many areas

A tandoor owner complained that he was barely getting a flour bag at even Rs1,250, due to which it had become impossible to sell roti at the controlled rate of Rs10.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Naan Roti Association president Aftab Gul said there was a shortage of subsidised flour and that being supplied was substandard.

He said the district administration had promised to ensure provision of subsidised flour if the tandoors continued to sell roti at the official rate.

But now the owners were not getting subsidised flour, due to which it was no longer possible to sell roti at the official rate. If the price of roti is not increased, tandoor owners will be forced to shut down, he said.

Lahore Flour Dealers Association president Haji Yousuf said there was a daily demand of 250,000 bags of flour in the provincial capital but only 155,000 bags were being supplied by the flour mills, hence a shortage of 95,000 to 100,000 bags.

Meanwhile, due to the premature release of wheat from the stock due to pressure from flour mills, the reserves of wheat in government warehouses of Punjab are fast depleting.

The price of wheat in the market has reached Rs3,000 per maund. According to food department sources, if 150,000 metric tonnes of wheat is not purchased by November, a crisis of wheat and flour will arise in Punjab in January.

According to market sources, flour mills are grinding the wheat given under the government quota for subsidised flour, but instead of supplying it to the Punjab market, the flour is being smuggled to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan.

Due to the elimination of inter-district and provincial check posts of the department established for monitoring the transportation of wheat and flour, smuggling of flour has become easier than in the past.

This is the reason why flour mills are not supplying full quantity to the Punjab market despite taking subsidised government wheat, the sources said.

The food department has requested the government to review the wheat release policy.

A summary was also sent for increase in the price of flour by Rs660 from Rs980 to Rs1,640 per 20kg and of wheat from Rs1,765 to Rs2,690 per maund.

An official warned that if the wheat release policy is not revised in Punjab, a flour crisis would arise as the reserves would run out before time.

The sources said that with the current wheat release policy of the government, the amount of subsidy could cross Rs213 billion. The provincial food secretary was unavailable to comment on the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2022.