The flour millers and Chakki owners have raised the prices of atta in the city by up to 6 rupees over pretext of shortage of wheat and that they are getting it on higher rates. Bu on the other hand, Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahu on Friday ruled out any shortage of wheat in the province. There is no shortage of wheat in Sindh as 12,50,000 tons of wheat is stored with the province, he said in his statement issued here. The minister said flour mills in Sindh are also having required wheat stock and added that the provincial cabinet will decide about release of wheat to the flour mills. Rahu also alleged the federal government responsible for shortage of wheat in Punjab. On July 20, Flour Mills Association in the Sindh province hiked prices of flour after they claimed an increase in prices of wheat province-wide. The mill owners had raised the prices of flour No. 2.5 by Rs 3 per kilogram (Kg), fine flour by Rs 1.5 per kg, and Chakki flour by Rs 2 per kg. After the increase in prices, the 10-kilogram bag of 2.5 No flour is being sold out at Rs 570. The flour mills have raised the prices on the basic food commodity by Rs 9 in the past week.The decision was taken after the wheat prices moved up to Rs 5100 per 100 kg bag.
