Flour rate rises to Rs 150 per kg in Pakistan's Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi [Pakistan], January 7 (ANI): With Wheat price hitting Rs 5,000 per maund, the flour rate has risen to Rs 150 per kilogram in Rawalpindi's open market, reported The Express Tribune.
A 15 kg bag of wheat is being sold for Rs 2,250 in the city, a part of Pakistan's Punjab province.
In the city, an ex-mill red flour bag is available for Rs 11,650. The rate of an ex-mill fine flour bag has increased to Rs 13,000.
In the open market, the official quota of wheat was low and wheat was being sold at Rs 5,400 per maund, according to Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA).
Rawalpindi's Naanbai Association has said that if the prices are not brought under control, the association will be forced to increase the rate of roti by Rs 5 again, according to The Express Tribune.
The price of whole-grain chakki flour has jumped to Rs 145 per kg across Lahore. Different brands of flour are being sold at Rs130 per kg in the provincial capital.
The reduced wheat releases from the government are being blamed for the increase in prices.
As per Chakki owners, the shortage of grains and high wheat support price are responsible for the increase in flour rates in Punjab.
Former PFMA chairman Khaleeq Arshad told The Express Tribune that hardly 21,000-22,000 tonnes of wheat was being released by the Punjab food department. The release of government wheat in Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan was also negligible, he added. "There are insufficient grains in the market in comparison with the demand," he said.
Arshad said that despite having complete knowledge of the current market situation, wheat import had been delayed by the government.
"Smuggling and black marketing of wheat flour are other factors responsible for the price increase," he said, as quoted by The Express Tribune.
Arshad said that the Russia-Ukraine war had also made wheat import difficult.
Geo News recently reported that a surge in the prices of meat especially Chicken, rice and wheat flour pushed weekly inflation up by 1.09 per cent in Pakistan.
According to figures issued on Friday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), annual inflation increased by 30.60 per cent, raising concerns among low- and middle-income people that they may soon be unable to afford even basic necessities.
The increase in prices was seen for chicken (16.09 pc), broken basmati rice (5.16 pc), wheat flour (4.87 pc), rice (3.45 pc), bananas (2.97 pc), onions (2.65 pc), bread (1.24 pc), powdered salt (1.07 pc), and pulse moong were to blame for the increase in the sensitive price indicator (SPI) (1.02pc).
Whereas on the other hand, the decrease was observed in the prices of potatoes (4.61pc), eggs (1.31pc), tomatoes (1.17pc), LPG (0.85pc), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (0.71pc), cooking oil 5 litres (0.32pc), sugar (0.24pc), vegetable ghee 1kg (0.11pc) and pulse masoor (0.05pc), Geo News reported. (ANI)