The flour millers of Rawalpindi and Islamabad while rejecting the government's directive to supply flour at Rs 365 per 20 kg bag have demanded open market prices of the commodity - Rs 385-390 per 20 kg bag. The flour millers while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday told the media that the millers were facing severe problems in selling flour on the government's price.
"We are buying wheat from the private sector at Rs 750-775 per 40 kg but are being told to sell flour in the domestic market at Rs 625 per 40 kg with a loss of Rs 150," Sheikh Shabir, ex-chairman of Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) revealed. The flour millers said that a letter had already been written to the Punjab Food Minister and they have agreed to arrange a meeting with the flour millers on June 4 (today).
There are 125 flour mills in Rawalpindi division that are on strike for the last four days and the situation may get worse resulting if their demands were not fulfilled, they warned. "If our negotiations with the minister remained fruitless then we would evolve our own strategy and would increase the rates of flour at our own discretion," the representatives of PFMA said.
Later, while talking to Business Recorder, a flour miller told this scribe that 75 flour mills of Lahore division would also go on shutter down strike if the price of 20 kg flour bag were not raised.
He said that the Punjab food department had set 4 million tons procurement target of wheat, but due to high market prices, the growers prefer to sell their commodity to the private sector. "The government has just procured 2.5 million tons at the rate of Rs 625per 40 kg. Its target was to procure 0.1 million tons wheat daily but it is hardly getting 2,000-4,000 tons per day", the flour miller said.
The officials of the Punjab food department are not paying the fixed procurement price to the farmers but they are being paid just Rs 570-585 per 42-43 kg, he alleged. The flour miller said, "The mills of Rawalpindi division are protesting against less flour price per 20 kg and are demanding of the government to increase the price.
"Almost 40 flour millers of Rawalpindi Division have met the Food Secretary of Punjab here on Tuesday and told him that most of the flour mills of the twin cities are trying to exploit the consumers by demanding high prices of flour. The total consumption of flour in the domestic market of the twin cities is 25,000-30,000 bags of 20 kg daily and the flour mills there have capacity to sell flour at Rs 365 per 20 kg", the same flour miller said.
He added that there is no risk of shortage of flour in Rawalpindi division even after the strike of the flour millers 40 flour mills are still operating in the region. He said that the government has asked the private sector to import 1 million ton of wheat and some flour millers have also been asked to import.
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