Millers give govt 48 hours to lift wheat movement ban
A worker grinds wheat at a shop in the Saddar area of Karachi to make whole-grain flour. Photo: Jalal Qureshi/express
The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has given a 48-hour ultimatum to the Sindh government to end the undeclared ban on wheat shipments to Karachi.
The inter-district ban imposed by the provincial government to improve its wheat procurement drive control smuggling of grain to other provinces and Afghanistan has gagged supplies from rural areas to the mills of the port city.
PFMA gave this ultimatum at a meeting held under the association's Sindh region chairman Chaudhry Amir on Tuesday.
The meeting decided that if the ban on delivery of wheat from rural Sindh to flour mills in Karachi is not lifted, they will announce an action plan in the next 48 hours.
Chaudhry Amir said that more than 50 per cent of the mills have been closed due to the stoppage of wheat delivery in Karachi, while all the other flour mills in Karachi will also be closed down in the next few days.
He said wheat does not grow in Karachi. The flour mills of Karachi produce flour and other products by procuring wheat from farmers across Sindh.
Therefore, the government should immediately allow transportation of wheat from within rural areas of the province to the industrial hub of the country.
He said that in Sindh, a 100kg sack of wheat costs Rs10,400, while in Karachi, the same wheat sack is sold for Rs11,800. This difference in the price has led to corruption. An unannounced ban on wheat delivery has created a threat of flour crisis in Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2023.