Wheat prices skyrocketing in Pakistan

Pakistan Flour Crisis: Wheat prices are skyrocketing in Pakistan, due to which the flour crisis has deepened in many states there. According to media reports, there is also news of stampede in many areas of Khyber Panhutunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan provinces during wheat procurement.

According to a report in The Express Tribune, thousands of people stand in line for hours daily to receive bags of subsidized flour. It is being said that the supply of subsidized flour in the market has already reduced a lot.

Several photos and videos are viral on social media in which people can be seen pushing each other for wheat and standing around vehicles loaded with wheat. It is being told that mini trucks and vans come to distribute flour in the presence of armed guards.

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Situation in Khyber Pukhtunkawa, people are searching for govt flour bag which is 1200 rupees, but in open market rate is 3100 rupees per 20 kg…
Food crisis in Pakistan

Now just recall what I told you months back “If you control food, you control people”. pic.twitter.com/ZCKYcgRw5A

— Halesh Singh🇮🇳 (@HaleshSingh) January 8, 2023

Wheat prices are skyrocketing

The Express Tribune reported that wheat and flour prices are skyrocketing amid the ongoing crisis in Pakistan. In Karachi, flour is being sold from Rs 140 per kg to Rs 160 per kg. A 10-kg bag of flour is being sold for Rs 1,500 per kg, while a 20-kg bag of flour is being sold for Rs 2,800 in Islamabad and Peshawar. Mill owners in Punjab province have increased the price of flour to Rs 160 per kg.

Balochistan’s Food Minister Zamark Achakzai has said that the stock of wheat in the province is completely exhausted. He said that Balochistan urgently needed 400,000 bags of wheat and warned that otherwise the crisis could deepen.

Similarly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is facing the worst ever flour crisis as a bag of 20 kg flour is being sold for Rs 3100. The Express Tribune reported that one person died in the Mirpurkhas stampede during the sale of flour subsidized by the Sindh government to people.

Situation in #BalochistanPeople fighting for bag of flour…
According to Pak studies, we are at no 7 in wheat production… food crisis #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/mBbMYJGLRK

— Fakhar Yousafzai (@fakharzai7) January 6, 2023

Stampede while taking subsidized flour

The person died near the commissioner’s office when two vehicles carrying 200 sacks each were selling flour outside Gulistan-e-Baldia Park. According to news reports, mini trucks were selling flour bags of 10 kg each at the rate of Rs 65 per kg.

During the commotion, Harsingh Kolhi, a 40-year-old laborer, fell on the road and was crushed to death by the people around, police said. According to a report in The Express Tribune, Kolhi’s family has demanded action against the officials of the Food Department.

Similar scenes of chaos were witnessed in other parts of Sindh where flour was being sold through mini trucks or vans. Two women and a minor girl were injured in a stampede outside a flour mill in Sakrand town of Shaheed Benazirabad while buying flour at government rate.