The flour dealers have reported that they have started receiving flour from mills at the government's ex-mill rate of Rs 285 per 20 kg bag. Multan Road's flour dealers and the dealers from other areas apprised that prices are being quoted by the mills on 20kg bags, ranging from Rs 288 to 290 per bag and they are selling it at Rs 295 per 20-kg bag to the end users.
Alleging the mills the dealers said that mills are releasing flour at the rate fixed by the government only those with whom they have constant business dealings while rest are being sold at higher quoted prices. Reports on shortage of flour also surfaced from some parts and consumers complained that they are still getting the flour bag at high prices.
Former Pakistan Flour Mills Association (Punjab Zone) president Khalique Arshad told Business Recorder that he hoped that the situation would improve further in the next two days.
He said, "Two good things have happened during the last few days; one there was an increase in the quota from the Punjab Food Department to the mills and the other was an announcement about the wheat import has brought down the wheat prices."
He said on Wednesday that flourmills dispatched up to 80,000 bags in the market in Lahore and that the one-third increase in quota of wheat from the government stocks have enabled the mills to increase their production and meet the demand of the consumers.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Retailers and General Merchants Association held a meeting with its President, Rao Muhammad Akram, who chaired the meeting, condemned the arrest of shopkeepers by the city district government for selling flour at high rates.
The meeting claimed that the shopkeepers had never had any role in higher rates of flour and warned that they would sell the flour at the same rates fixed by the government when they got the flour from the mills selling at the government rates. They also warned that they could stop selling flours if they were not supplied the flour by the mills at the government fixed rates.
Sources said that the supply of vegetables and fruits has also improved that help reduce even its official rates fixed by the Market Committee Lahore, but blaming the vendors they said that vendors were charging high and ignoring the price list. Just to quote an example, the price of potato (new) has witnessed a reduction from Rs 19 per kg to Rs 16 per kg.
However, in the Badami Bagh, Singh Pura, Kot Lakhpat and Multan Road markets, it was selling at Rs 17 to Rs 18 per kg and in some places it was selling at Rs 22 per kg. The rates of potato (store) were not dropped both in the official price lists and the markets rates as the supply of it remained the same in the city.
The official price of potato (store) was Rs 8 to Rs 10 per kg and it sold Rs 12 to Rs 14 per kg. The price of tomato was slightly reduced due to the improvement of its supply. The official rates of tomato was reduced by Rs 6 to Rs 8 per kg and fixed at Rs 12 to Rs 17 per kg as compared to Tuesday's rates of Rs 18 to Rs 25 per kg.
However, in the different areas of the city, including the vegetables markets the vendors charged Rs 15 to Rs 24 per kg for tomato against the fixed rates of Rs 12 to Rs 17 per kg. Similarly, the official price of onion was declined by Rs 3 to Rs 4 per kg settled at Rs 14 to Rs 17 per kg as compared to Tuesday's rates of Rs 17 to Rs 20 per kg. However, onion was available at the rate of Rs 18 to Rs 30 per kg.
The sources said the rates of fruits were remained high as the thin supply of the most seasonal fruits was witnessed, including guava, banana, grapes, pomegranate and apples. The City District Government of Lahore continued monitoring the prices and quality of eatable items.
On Wednesday, its monitoring teams conducted 256 raids at various places, including Aziz Bhatti Town, Dharampura, Jurapul, North Cantt., Ghalib Market, Johar Town, Gulberg, Defene, Walton and New Anarkali. During the raids, 53 vendors and shopkeepers were challaned worth of Rs 120,000 and arrested 18 people for selling eatables items of low quality at high prices.