Ministry of National Food Security and Research Tuesday observed that the pricing trend in Sindh indicated that due to delay in the release of wheat from public stock by the food department, prices were unstable in the province.
According to an office memorandum titled “announcement of wheat release policy 2021 and public wheat releases” the ministry said the provincial governments were requested to announce their wheat release policy and immediately release their wheat stock among flour mills of their jurisdiction.
In this context, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced their release policy, fixed wheat release price, and started releasing their stocks to flour mills. Resultantly, the prices of wheat and flour started to decrease in the two provinces.
The memorandum said despite having the public wheat stock to the level of 1.269 MMT, which was sufficient to meet the entire province wheat requirement till March next year through routine releases of 1000 MT daily, no releases had been started so far by the Sindh government.
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The memorandum further said in the absence of public interventions, the traders and hoarders were making a profit by increasing prices and drying the market for taking further advantage at the cost of the common consumer.
Wheat prices in Sindh soaring
Wheat prices in Sindh province were higher and affecting the national average price and causing inflation.
The national food security ministry again requested the Sindh food department to start the release of wheat from public stock like the other provinces.
This initiative would not only stabilize wheat prices but also cater to the needs of the population of the province.
The ministry also suggested that for the facilitation of the vulnerable segments Sahulat and Sasta bazaars may also be established.
Earlier, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain had tweeted that the prime minister had directed the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination to ask the Sindh government to release wheat immediately.
Read more: Is government planning to launch a crackdown on wheat mafia?
وزیراعظم نے وزارت بین الصوبائی رابطہ کو ہدایت کی ہے کہ وہ سندھ حکومت کو فوری طور پر گندم کی ریلیز کا کہیں،سندھ میں گندم کی قیمتیں ملک بھر میں سب سے زیادہ ہیں جس کی وجہ یہ ہے کہ سندھ حکومت نے 12 لاکھ ٹن گندم کی ریلیز روک رکھی ہے۔ اس سے پہلے سندہ حکومت نے گندم کی خریداری نہیں کی
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 5, 2021
He said wheat prices in Sindh were the highest in the country. Fawad said the reason was that the Sindh government had stopped the release of 1.2 million tons of wheat.
He said earlier, the Sindh government did not buy wheat during the harvesting season.
Courtesy: APP with additional input by GVS