Flour price surges by 18 percent in Peshawar

Export, smuggling to Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: The flour export and smuggling to Afghanistan and wrangling between flourmills and authorities have led to 18 percent increase in the price of wheat flour in the local market.

It was observed during a market survey by The News on Tuesday that there was abundance of flour in the local Rampura Gate and Dilazak Road grain markets, but the price of the commodity has been rising for the last one month or so.

The wheat flour has increased Rs8 per kilogram and the 20 kilogram bag of super quality flour, which was selling at Rs650 a week ago, was priced at Rs780 on Tuesday registering an increase of Rs130.

Similarly, the mixed quality has also registered an increase of Rs130 per 20kg and the 20kg bag that was selling at Rs620 just 20 days ago was now selling at Rs770 at the wholesale market. The price of the 85kg gunnysack of flour has also recorded an increase of Rs350 and it is now being soled at Rs3,500 in place of its 20 days’ old rate of Rs3,150.

Wholesale and Grain Merchants Association Chairman Haji Rambel Khan said that the increase was not caused by any eventuality such a shortage of grain and added it was just caused by mismanagement and handiwork of some profiteers in the market, more particularly in the Punjab.

Another flour dealer requesting anonymity said that due to some elements in the federal government the flour supply and prices situation may get worse over the next few days.

He said the federal government issued permits for supply of flour to Afghanistan in the pretext of which some vested interests in the flour business have started smuggling of the item to Afghanistan.

However, he said that they were receiving reports that flour supplies had started to Afghanistan from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and it would help drop demand of Pakistani wheat flour in Afghanistan, which may help stabilise it price in the local market.

He said the country had harvested record wheat crop of about 22 million tonnes, but unfortunately it has yet to formulate a wheat export policy so that the surplus wheat is channelled in the export outlets profitability. “It is still smuggled out of the country that at times caused a kind of artificial crisis and increase in the flour prices,” he said.

Malik Iftikhar Awan, vice-president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) and former chairman Flourmills Association also attributed the increase in the prices of flour to the wheat procured by the millers from the open market that is now around Rs3,300 per 100 kg.

It has atomically caused an increase in the prices, he said and added that mills were getting quota only 50 to 60 bag of 100kg and they have no role in the current increase in the price.

He said the government announcement about fixing the support price of Rs1,200 per 40kg for the next year was also a cause of the sharp increase in the wheat and flour prices.

Posted in: Peshawar news