Sindh notifies wheat support price at Rs4,000/40kg

KARACHI: Sindh Food Department has issued a notification of the wheat support price at Rs4,000/40kg for the 2023 season.

The decision to increase the support price from Rs2,200/40kg last year was taken by the Sindh cabinet in a meeting on September 11, 2022, and was later endorsed in another meeting on Thursday.

The support price for a 100kg bag has reached Rs10,000 as a result of this decision.

Initially, the Sindh government was criticised for raising the support price to this level, as it could cause an increase in wheat prices in the market. However, the decision was supported by other provinces after seeing higher prices in the open market.

“It was a good decision by the government to raise the support price of the grain, as it was already trading at higher rates in the open market and there was an increase in input prices,” said one grower. However, the grower added that the notification should have come earlier since wheat sowing was already completed in the province.

Last month, the Sindh government increased the wheat quota for flour mills to bring the price of wheat flour down to Rs95/kg from Rs150/kg.

“At 1,100 sale points in the province, wheat flour will be available at Rs65/kg, while it will be sold for Rs95/kg at retail shops,” a provincial minister said after the increase in the wheat quota for flour mills. He added that a flour crisis had emerged throughout the country, where prices had gone up, but “only in Sindh were prices controlled, where the government made flour available at Rs65/kg”.

The minister stated that 460 trucks were providing wheat flour at this rate in Karachi every day, and 600,000 bags of 10kg each were provided at subsidised rates in the province on a daily basis, with the government providing billions of rupees in subsidies.

The quota for flour mills is being increased, and they hope that prices in the open market would soon decrease to Rs95/kg from Rs150/kg. Although the price did not drop to Rs95/kg, it saw a significant decline in the retail market.

Sindh government has a surplus of wheat, and the chief minister has instructed strict action against hoarders. The wheat stocks of hoarders would be seized, the minister said.

Under the law, there is no ban on the movement of wheat, but the government could ban inter-provincial movement of the grain.

The provincial government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs4,000/maund for the next season, despite criticism from some elements.

The decision was now being praised and followed by other provinces as well, the minister added.

Prior to the Sindh government's decision to increase the quota for flour mills, the Punjab government had also increased the wheat quota for flour mills, bringing prices down to Rs120/kg from Rs160/kg.