Owing to increased smuggling of wheat and subsidised flour bags to other provinces, the price of flour in the Punjabi capital increased by Rs5 per kilogramme to Rs140.
Smuggling has exacerbated Punjab’s flour problem, increasing open-market prices to an all-time high. According to sources, the subsidised flour bags were being smuggled into Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkwa at a cost of Rs2,400 each bag.
Prices for 10-kg and 20-kg flour sacks in Lahore have risen to Rs1,400 and Rs2,800, respectively, while Chakki flour has risen to Rs140 per kilogramme, according to Dunya News.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the local administration in Jhang stopped an attempt to smuggle flour bags from a local flour factory, seizing nearly 1,000 20 kg bags from a truck.
According to wheat dealers, the open market price of wheat has risen to Rs4,700 per 40 kg. Furthermore, the rate for a commercial unit of power from 6 pm to 10 pm has risen to a staggering Rs70 to Rs80, severely hurting the economics of grain trading.
Lahore Atta Chakki Owners Association has requested the government to immediately prohibit the inter-provincial movement of wheat and its products in order to halt the ongoing rise in wheat prices.
