Sindh govt hikes prices of flour varieties amid crackdown on hoarding

• Retail price of flour No 2.5 set at Rs125 per kg, fine flour to sell for Rs135 per kg • Sindh govt’s warnings against wheat hoarding fail to bring down prices • Officials impose Rs1.2m fine on retailers for charging more than govt-notified rate

KARACHI: While the wheat prices are skyrocketing for the past couple of weeks across Sindh due to failure of the provincial government to curb hoarding and overcharging, the Karachi commissioner has again raised the prices of various flour varieties.

However, the fresh price hike coincided with a citywide crackdown and enforcement campaign to ensure the availability of wheat flour at government-notified rates, as assistant commissioners imposed a total fine of Rs1.2 million on businesses found violating notified flour prices in Karachi’s seven districts.

Keeping the Chakki flour rates unchanged at Rs145 per kilo, the commissioner has increased the retail price of flour No 2.5 by Rs12 per kg to Rs125 per kg and fine flour by Rs14 per kg to Rs135 per kg.

In mid-May this year, the city administrator had shocked the consumers by raising the price of various varieties of flour by Rs4 to 15 per kg.

When the new Sindh wheat crop had hit the markets this year, the regulator had fixed the retail rates of flour No 2.5, fine flour and Chakki flour at Rs99, Rs117 and Rs130 per kg, respectively.

As the millers continued to jack up prices from the beginning of new crop arrival in March — the Sindh government, by maintaining its past tradition, woke up late in the first week of June, putting traders and flour mills on notice over rising flour and bread prices, warning that artificial shortages and unjustified price hikes would not be tolerated.

The measures remained confined to the “high-level” meetings instead of any practical steps,........

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