LAHORE: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) on Friday increased the price of 20kg flour bag by Rs120, from Rs805 to Rs925.
In addition, PFMA has also increased the ex-mill price of 20kg flour bag to Rs900.
Talking to this scribe, PFMA Chairman Abdul Rauf Mukhtar said, “We have taken the decision in wake of an increase in wheat price. The price of 40kg wheat in the open market has been increased from Rs1,600…how can we sell the commodity at government rates when we are purchasing it at high prices?”
He said the recent ban on the transportation of newly cropped wheat had worsened the situation, adding that the provincial food department had also detained the wheat stock of mills, causing further problems.
He claimed that at present, the flour mills don’t even have wheat stocks for 72 hours “and if the food department wants to stabilise the wheat price, it should issue stocks to flour mills”.
Mukhtar maintained it was the responsibility of the food department to maintain the supply chain of wheat and flour.
On the other hand, senior Punjab minister Abdul Aleem Khan said the government would hold a session with the PFMA to discuss the matter in detail. “We hope that flour millers will cooperate with the government…otherwise the latter will deal with the former in its own way.”
“We have enough wheat stock and there will be no shortage. The supply of wheat and flour to the public is our first and foremost priority,” the minister stated.
