MULTAN, July 26: Farmers Vision Forum chairman Khwaja Muhammad Shoaib has urged the government to allow only as much import of wheat as is required to bridge the demand and supply gap for 2005-06.

In a press statement issued here on Tuesday, the FVF chief disputed the claim being made by certain quarters that there was a shortage of wheat in the country owing to its less than the expected production this year.

He said the country had harvested around 21 million tons of wheat this year against the official pre-harvest wheat production target of 22 million tons. Although the target could not be achieved, he said, the production was quite impressive and could easily fulfil the local demand. But, hoarding by the middlemen and flour millers had created an artificial shortage of the crop, he added.

He alleged that the food supply chain in the country had been “hijacked by profiteers and hoarders and they were the forces behind the price hike of daily-use kitchen items.” Both official and private buyers procured wheat from the farmers at Rs400 per 40kgs, but the price of wheat flour had soared up to Rs520 to Rs550 per 40kgs in the Punjab while the situation in the smaller provinces, especially in the NWFP and Balochistan, would be even more alarming.

The FVF chief said the grinding cost of the 40kgs wheat was not more than Rs20 and, therefore, the millers were earning a mind-boggling profit of Rs100 per 40kg for just processing the commodity.

He feared that the hoarders would further pile up their stocks taking advantage of the liberal import of the commodity and then they would exploit the position next year by depressing the procurement price while buying wheat from the farmers in the country. “That is why the FVF advocates wheat import that will be sufficient to mend the gap between consumption and the domestic supply,” he asserted.

Moreover, he said, the wheat should be allowed to import only from the TTC (Test and Trial Countries) because the quality of their wheat had been tested and approved. The TTC included USA, Canada, Australia, Russia and Central Asian States.

He said there was a risk that some unscrupulous elements among importers might trade in substandard wheat for being available at cheap rates and then sell it at the prevailing exorbitant rates in the country. He said, however, the wise thing to do on the part of the government would be to launch a crackdown on the wheat hoarders if it really wanted to bring the wheat flour prices at a rational level.