ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday instructed provincial chief secretaries to launch a 'grand operation' against the rising wheat crisis in the country and act against those who were hoarding the commodity or selling it at exorbitant rates, local media reported.
Pakistan is facing an impending wheat flour crisis as prices of the staple food have shot up in recent weeks amid soaring inflation and tumbling purchasing power.
The price of flour has increased from Rs43 per kilogram to Rs75 per kilogram in different parts of the country while the government has also launched a crackdown against flour mills and hoarders to bring down the prices.
Wheat flour is a basic food item and its shortage and price hike trigger sharp public criticism and outcry against governments. Keeping in view the public sentiments over the shortage, Prime Minister Imran Khan has constituted a two-member committee to increase wheat supply to flour mills to control the commodity’s price.
“The 20kg flour bag that was available in the market from Rs860 to Rs890 has now gone up to Rs1500 within a span of one month,” Adnan Shakeel, a consumer in Islamabad, told Arab News.
On the other hand, owners of flour mills say they have no option but to raise prices since the rate of wheat has gone up in the local market.
“We are selling 20kg flour bag for Rs783 to the government against a subsidized wheat quota that the government provides us,” Sardar Ali, a manager at Sunny Flour Mill in Islamabad, told Arab News.
However, he added the mill had to buy large wheat quantity from local market as well to meet the demand. “The price of the wheat in local market has gone up from Rs1300 per 40 kilograms to Rs1800. So obviously we cannot sell flour on the government’s notified rate,” he maintained.
Pakistan’s inflation rate was recorded at 12.63 percent in December, the highest in the last nine years.
Shakeel Baig, chairman of the Pakistan Consumers Rights Protection Council, said that provincial governments had failed to establish their writ as flour millers and retailers were selling the staple on exorbitant rates.
“Provincial governments think they can control the prices of commodities just by issuing notifications and official rates,” he told Arab News. “The relevant departments need to raid the markets and flour mills to control the prices.”
Baig said that Pakistan was a food surplus country where bad governance and mismanagement were contributing to the crisis. “The increase in food prices will lead to food insecurity and undernourishment in the country,” he said.
According to a 2018 national nutrition survey, around 60 percent of Pakistan’s population faces food insecurity mainly due to limited economic access by the poorest and most vulnerable – particularly women – to an adequate and diverse diet.
Dr. Javed Humayun, senior joint secretary at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, said the federal government had released 450,000 tonnes of wheat to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 400,000 tonnes to Sindh and 50,000 tonnes to Balochistan province to overcome the flour crisis and maintain prices.
“We have abundant wheat reserves which are being distributed among the provinces as per their demand,” he told Arab News. “This is an artificial crisis and will be overcome within a week.”
