First wheat consignment from Russia arrives

Prices crash in Punjab after CM Elahi doubled supplies to mills from govt stocks

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

The first consignment of wheat imported from Russia by the incumbent government reached the Karachi port on Monday, raising hopes that the ongoing flour crisis in the country would ease in the coming days, officials said.

The government has planned to import 750,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia by March 30. So far, 350,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia and other countries arrived at the Karachi port.

Another shipment of 450,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia would be imported through Gwadar.

Pakistan currently faces a serious flour crisis due to the worsening economic situation, shortage of foreign exchange and destruction of wheat crops in the recent floods. People are standing in long queues to buy a single bag of flour.

Read One dies in Mirpurkhas stampede as flour crisis turns ugly

The price of flour reached Rs130-160 per kilo. The 10kg bag of flour provided by the federal government at the utility stores and the cheap flour bag by the Sindh government at a cost of Rs650 have disappeared from the market.

The four mill owners blame the crisis on the dwindling national stocks that affected the supply. “The government is providing only 30% of the wheat quota. We are buying 70% of wheat from the open market,” Chaudhry Aamir, the chairman of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), Sindh Region, said.

However, the national food security ministry rejected the claims of depleting stocks, saying that 4.437 million tonnes of wheat was available, which was sufficient to meet the country’s requirement till April – when the new crop hits the market. Besides, 1.3 million tonnes would be imported, a source said.

Last week, the country witnessed an unprecedented hike in the prices of floor in all the provinces, compelling the provincial governments to immediately take necessary actions.

It had been stated that the crisis surfaced because of miscalculation of imported grain requirements.

Read More Wheat quota doubled for mills in Punjab

On Saturday, a father of seven died in Mirpurkhas district during a stampede at a sale point of the Sindh government’s subsidised flour. Separately, three women, including a girl, suffered injuries in another stampede that broke out outside a flour mill in Shaheed Benazirabad district.

Scenes of chaos were witnessed in all parts of Sindh, as well as other parts of the country where flour was being sold through mini-trucks or vans. In the market, the flour prices rose by Rs20 to reach between Rs140-160 per kilo in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and other cities and towns.

Flour price also shot up in Punjab, because of a tussle between the federal and Punjab governments. It was stated that the province had first demanded the supply of 500,000 tonnes of wheat but later increased it to one million tonnes. Initially, the Centre agreed to meet Punjab’s demand but later backtracked on its word.

Also over the weekend, Balochistan food minister claimed that the wheat stock in the province had “finished”, warning that the crisis in the province was “intensifying”.

He added that Balochistan depended on Punjab and Sindh for wheat supply and both the provinces had banned export of the commodity.

government stocks. The measure worked, as wheat price crashed in the open market in the province by a whopping Rs750 per 40 kilos, on Monday.

Sources said that after the increase in government supplies, the hoarders started bringing their stashes in the markets and quoting much lower rates to the flour mills but now there were no buyers. According to a report from Lahore, the flour situation had eased to a greater extent in the provincial capital.

Meanwhile, the Sindh government on Monday decided to increase the sale points of cheap flour and take action against hoarders to control flour prices. Provincial Food Minister Mukesh Chawla said that cheap flour stalls had been increased from 27 to 64 in Karachi, with five vehicles at each point instead of two.

Also Read Balochistan requests 600,000 bags of wheat from Punjab

On Sunday, Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi doubled the wheat supply to the flour mills from the

In Islamabad, the food ministry sources said that any apprehensions about the wheat shortage before the new arrival were unfounded. They added that the available stocks were sufficient for the next 70-100 days, while the new wheat crop would be harvested in 80-100 days.

Giving a breakdown of the stocks, the sources said that at present, Punjab had a stock of 2.2 million tonnes, which was enough to meet the province’s needs for the next 106 days, while the new wheat would arrive in 82 days.

Sindh had 837,000 metric tons of wheat – enough for 98 days, while the new crop was expected in 70 days. About Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, they added, 646, 000 metric tons of wheat was available there, which was enough for 152 days, while its new crop was expected in 96 days.