Suspension of wheat supply to flour mills in Rawalpindi has led to an increase in flour prices by Rs8 per kg.
Flour mills get wheat under a quota on a daily basis, but Food Department’s sudden suspension of wheat supply to more than 57 flour mills has forced the millers to purchase wheat from the open market.
It was agreed upon between the government and flour mills that flour would be sold at Rs 40 per kilogramme, but in certain areas shopkeepers have raised the price by Rs 8 to Rs 10 per kilogramme. A 20 kilogramme flour bag is being sold for Rs 830 instead of Rs 770.
The flour mill owners said if they were not supplied wheat the city might witness a flour crisis during Ramadan.
District Food Controller Mehr Ejaz Siyal said that supply to flour mills has been suspended because wheat procurement process was underway at the government level. He denied that flour prices have gone up.
