Flour retailers capitalise on tussle between govt, millers

KARACHI: As flour millers resumed operations and restored supplies to markets on Saturday, a day after talks with the Sindh government, retailers have yet to lower prices.

On Thursday, more than 90 flour mills in Karachi closed production and suspended supplies after the provincial administration sealed several mills; the millers have also complained that the Sindh government was supplying inferior-quality wheat.

However, after holding talks with the Sindh food minister, Mukesh Kumar Chawla, millers called off the strike on Friday.

Consumers, in the meanwhile, saw the price of a 5kg flour bag jump from Rs800-850 from Rs700, and that of a 10kg bag to Rs1,600 from Rs1,350-1,400.

Even that was still considered a blessing by many as retailers in some areas have either run out of flour stocks or held sales for now to capitalise on the situation later.

Two weeks back, flour mills, after refusing to sell the commodity at the government-agreed ex-mill rate of Rs95 per kg, increased the price of flour No. 2.5 to Rs130 per kg followed by a jump in the rate of fine flour to Rs132 from Rs125 per kg.

A business owner in Jodia Bazaar said the wholesale rate of flour No. 2.5 had risen to Rs130 from Rs120 per kg, while the rate of fine atta had increased to Rs132 from Rs122 in the last few days. Retailers are selling different flour varieties at Rs140-160 per kg, depending on the area.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the price of a 20kg flour bag ranged from Rs2,700 to Rs2,900 in Karachi during the week ending on March 2, significantly higher than Rs2,300-Rs2,600 in the preceding week.

On March 3, the Pakistan Flour Mills Association’s Sindh chapter claimed that after a meeting with the Sindh food minister, some seven flour mills in Karachi and other parts of Sindh were de-sealed, which had earlier sealed on “false accusations”.

Meanwhile, flour millers have also lamented the supply of inferior wheat by the Sindh government.

A miller, who asked not to be named, told Dawn that the provincial food minister had said that a weekly monthly quota of wheat would be provided to millers.

He hoped that the price of flour varieties might come down from the next week as a new wheat crop of Sindh has started arriving. The open market rate is currently Rs11,600 per 100kg bag.

Last month, the Sindh government set the wheat procurement price at Rs4,000 per 40kg for the current season compared to Rs2,200 last year, taking the price of a 100kg wheat bag to Rs10,000.