The Punjab Flour Mills Association (PFMA) leadership has urged the government to open wheat export through sea route for disposing of the surplus stocks of 3.5 million tons lying in the government stores. They also urged for increasing rebate on wheat export from present US$120 per tons to US$185 per tons. They further asked the government to immediately release Rs 15 billion stuck up with it in shape of claims of rebate on export of wheat.
PFMA group leader Asim Raza Ahmad, Liaquat Ali Khan, Mian Riaz and Iftikhar Ahmad Mattoo in a joint statement issued on Friday said that surplus stock of wheat was increasing for the last three years and flour mills were being provided wheat from old stocks instead of new crop. "These old stocks are no more meeting the standards and are unable to be grinded for producing flour. Wheat can be stored for two years but the wheat stored under open sky does not qualify to be human food but millers are being asked to mix the substandard wheat with good one for producing different items," they alleged.
They said 30 percent of the stored wheat was turning into ashes every year because of less storage capacity. They alleged that increasing volume of stored wheat was result of less interest of policy makers towards increasing storage capacity and ignorance of international trends. They claimed wheat could not be exported from the stocks of year 2016.
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