The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has urged the government to adopt a market-oriented wheat policy, promote competition among flour mills and replace blanket flour subsidies with targeted financial assistance for low-income households.
Speaking to a delegation of the Agriculture Journalists Association (AJA) on Tuesday, Khaleeq Arshad, a leader of the PFMA’s Progressive Group, said frequent changes in wheat procurement, pricing and distribution policies had created uncertainty for farmers and flour millers.
He welcomed the decision to set the wheat support price at Rs4,500 per maund but stressed that wheat should be released to mills at rates covering procurement, storage and transportation costs. He also called for strategic wheat reserves to address shortages, with stocks released at prevailing market prices.
Arshad recommended using existing social protection programmes, including the Benazir Income Support Programme and Kissan Card, to provide direct assistance to deserving families instead of subsidising flour for all consumers.
He also criticised wheat quotas for inactive mills and called for allocations based on performance and competition.
Highlighting financial difficulties faced by millers, he said subsidised wheat was being supplied at around Rs3,700 per maund in some major cities against a market price of approximately Rs5,400. Mills receiving subsidised wheat were also required to supply 20 to 25 per cent of flour produced from commercially purchased wheat at subsidised rates, causing financial losses.
He urged the government to link flour delivery obligations strictly to the quantity of subsidised wheat supplied to each mill and remove conditions that impose additional costs on millers.
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