Dar orders action against hoarding, overpricing of essential commodities

Says adequate stocks available to meet domestic demand, with 'no shortages anticipated' and prices stabilising

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday directed the authorities to take "strict action against hoarding, artificial shortages and overpricing of essential commodities," as a government committee reviewed stock position, supply arrangements and prices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.

According to the post on X, MoFA said Dar chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee to review the stocks and prices of essential commodities.

The committee reviewed the “stock position, supply arrangements and prices of essential commodities”, the ministry said. Dar was informed that “adequate stocks were available to meet domestic demand”, with “no shortages anticipated” and prices stabilising, it added.

Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee to review the stocks and prices of essential commodities.

The Committee reviewed the stock position, supply arrangements and prices of essential commodities.… pic.twitter.com/FA258IZ99O

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) October 16, 2026

The deputy prime minister directed all concerned authorities to “monitor supply chains and commodity prices to facilitate domestic consumers”, in line with the prime minister’s directives.

He stressed that “strict action would be taken against hoarding, artificial shortages and overpricing of essential commodities”, the MoFA said.

The meeting was attended by the ministers for National Food Security and Research and Climate Change, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Bajwa, the commerce secretary and senior representatives of relevant federal and provincial ministries and departments.

Read: Energy keeps CPI in double digits

Pakistan’s year-on-year consumer price inflation slowed to 10.3 per cent in September from 11.1 per cent in August, but rising electricity and fuel costs continued to put pressure on household budgets. Average inflation during the first quarter of the current fiscal year stood at 10.2 per cent, while monthly inflation increased by 1.3 per cent in September.

Short-term price pressures also persisted. The Sensitive Price Indicator rose 11.97 per cent year-on-year in the week ending October 8, with the price of a 20-kilogramme bag of wheat flour increasing 5.69 per cent in a week to Rs2,851, compared with Rs2,150 a year earlier. Onion prices more than doubled over the same period, while petrol prices rose 47.52 per cent year-on-year.

Pakistan’s wheat and flour markets have faced rising prices and supply disruptions despite a substantial harvest, with concerns over hoarding, weak procurement and restrictions on interprovincial trade. In July, Punjab sought one million tonnes of wheat from federal reserves after failing to procure its planned three million tonnes from farmers, purchasing only 480,000 tonnes. Officials also said the province had been unable to trace about four million tonnes of wheat believed to have been hoarded, raising questions over stock management.

The situation was compounded in K-P by restrictions on wheat and flour supplies from Punjab. K-P requires about 5.2 million tonnes of wheat annually but produces only 1.2 million tonnes locally, leaving it heavily dependent on supplies from other provinces. Flour millers have said the restrictions disrupted deliveries, forced mills to close and drove up prices, with a 20kg flour bag reaching Rs2,700 in January.

Read more: Punjab flour halt drives prices higher

Despite repeated requests by the K-P government to restore supplies, restrictions remained in place in September, pushing prices of fine, special fine and mixed flour up by as much as Rs100 per 20kg bag. The provincial assembly passed a resolution on the issue, while Chief Minister Sohail Afridi sought the prime minister’s intervention.

Flour prices have come under particular pressure in Peshawar, where a 20kg bag of coarse flour reached Rs3,300 in early October, while fine flour of the same weight sold for Rs3,120. An 80kg bag of coarse flour was priced at Rs13,200. The increase came as government-subsidised flour became largely unavailable in the open market, prompting concerns about supply shortages and allegations of artificial price manipulation.

The increase also affected consumers buying bread. Tandoors raised the price of a 50-gramme roti to Rs30, up Rs10, while some markets stopped selling single rotis and offered larger ones instead. The provincial Food Department said it had distributed more than 417,000 bags of flour at official rates during the preceding week and was releasing 3,000 metric tonnes of government wheat from strategic reserves to flour mills daily.

The IMF has also raised its inflation forecast for Pakistan to 9.9 per cent for the current fiscal year, up from its earlier projection of 8.4 per cent, while maintaining its economic growth forecast at 3.5 per cent.