Cheema distances Centre away from flour crisis

Federal National Food Security and Research Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema on Friday maintained that the Centre had plenty of wheat reserves and the issue of flour shortage pertained to the provincial governments.

“There was unnecessary commotion on the issue of wheat and the common people actually faced difficulties in purchasing flour,” he added while addressing a news conference in Islamabad.

The minister distanced the federal government away from the unavailability of flour in the country.

He noted that after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, agricultural commodities including wheat were the issue of provincial governments.

He added that the provinces, including Punjab, were not releasing wheat despite receiving the grains as per their requirements.

The minister maintained that even Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was receiving its quota of wheat and there was no shortage of the grains anywhere in the country.

He added that when provincial governments released wheat from their reserves, the prices of flour in the country decreased.

Cheema elaborated that the federal government purchased wheat only through the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco).

He added that the Centre had to meet the wheat requirements of the armed forces.

The minister further explained that the wheat requirements of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were also met through Passco.

Cheema claimed that the owners of flour mills bought wheat at a support price of Rs22,000 per 40kg and then sold their product for Rs48,000.

The minister said the 4,000 metric tonnes of wheat had already been imported and was present at the Karachi port.

“The remaining 800,000 MT of wheat will be delivered in February or March,” he added.

Cheema maintained that the price of wheat in Punjab was Rs105 per kg, Sindh Rs110 per kg, K-P Rs116 per kg, and Balochistan Rs112 per kg.

“In accordance with these figures, flour should be sold at Rs65 per kg in Punjab,” he added.

Recalling that at one time Pakistan exported wheat, the minister said the government now had to import 2.6 million tonnes of the grains from Russia, of which 1.3 million tonnes had been received.

He added that the government had decided to import 2.6 million tonnes of wheat this year after the decision of the review committee.

Cheema explained that the government had stored 1.8 tonnes of wheat last year in its strategic reserve.

“It [strategic reserve] will contain 1.5 million this year,” he added.

Replying to a question, the minister said efforts were being made to reduce the reliance on imported food commodities, and enhance the local output, including that of wheat and oil seeds.

He elaborated that the reason for this was that edible oil imports had jacked up to $4.5 billion during last year and wheat to $2 billion.

To a query, Cheema said that only certified soybeans had been released.

“No genetically modified organisms (GMOs) soybeans have been released,” he added.

The minister said a strategy was being devised for stabilising flour prices to ensure its provision at affordable rates.

(With input from APP)