Local consumers have grown increasingly worried by the export of millions of tons of ‘excess’ provincial wheat while the prices of flour, sugar and other essential food items skyrocket. Monday saw the retail prices of wheat flour in the inflation-hit country rising by 70 paisas. This increase in the price of the essential food item is attributed to a weekly upsurge in the open market prices of wheat on the eve of new procurement season. According to market sources, the prices of daily use item would further go up once the millers start buying wheat at the government’s issue price in the new season.
The market sources said from Tuesday, May 31, the retailers would be selling a kilogram of the wheat flour at Rs28.20. This would depict a 70 paisa per kilogram increase when compared with the wheat flour’s previous price of Rs27.50.
“Yes, the flour prices have been increased due to increase last week in the prices of wheat,” Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Mian Mehmood Hassan told Pakistan Today. The chief miller said per kilogram flour would be retailed at Rs28.20 against the previous Rs27.20. “Wheat prices in the open market last week saw a growth of 50 to 60 rupees per tonne,” he said. Hassan said the increase was part of a routine at the end of wheat procurement season. The PFMA chief said that the atta prices would further grow up when the millers would start procuring wheat at the government’s issue price of Rs2,550 per tonne. “That would add Rs 100 more to our expenses on account of transportation etc,” Hassan said adding “The per kilogram price of wheat flour would then be crossing the Rs30 mark,” he said.
The prices of atta or wheat flour largely depend on the availability and rates of wheat in the open market as it was last month on April 19 when the millers had, reportedly, reduced the price of flour No.2.5 to Rs26.80 from Rs28.50 per kilogram after free availability of wheat in the open market. The smooth supply of wheat was ensured after the government had withdrawn Section 144 banning the inter-district movement of the exportable commodity. The consumers, however, had not benefited immediately from the rare price cut as the retailers kept charging Rs30 per kg for the essential item.
Also, consumers have long been questioning the export of millions of tons provincial “excess” wheat while the prices of flour, the daily-use essential kitten item and one of major byproducts of wheat, keep skyrocketing in the local wholesale and retail markets. “It is beyond comprehension that prices of food items like atta and sugar could be so high in an agricultural country like Pakistan,” said a consumer, Saeed Ahmed.
Saeed, a former hotelier, reiterated the widely asked question that if ‘excess”’ wheat was available in the country to be exported why was it not reflecting on the local flour prices? “They are pocketing millions of dollars through wheat exports but local consumer is starving for the essentials,” he added. The flour millers, however, think otherwise and view the wheat exports as a good omen for the country. “The growers got reasonable prices for their commodities… the exports also rid the government of its woes in terms of storage facilities that are lacking in the country,” said PFMA Chairman Mian Mehmood Hassan said.
