Flour millers slam Sindh’s wheat policy, allege subsidy misuse

KARACHI: Flour millers have criticised the Sindh government’s wheat policy for FY25-26, alleging a dual standard under which millers are given limited quotas while traders are allowed unrestricted access to subsidised wheat, raising concerns that consumer subsidies are benefiting middlemen instead.

Addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Sindh zone chairman Abdul Junaid Aziz said the provincial government was supplying wheat to traders at Rs8,000 per 100kg bag, which was later sold to millers at around Rs9,500. He questioned whether the Rs1,500 per bag subsidy—backed by an allocation of Rs85 billion—was intended for consumers, traders or end users.

He said that over the past 10 days traders had been supplied wheat from the Pipri godowns, while flour mills in Karachi and interior Sindh received only 8,000 to 15,000 bags per mill from Landhi godowns, where nearly half of the stock was substandard. Despite assurances of proportional distribution from Pipri and Landhi, millers were largely deprived of quality supplies.

Mr Aziz also expressed concern over the Sindh Food Department’s refusal to conduct joint inspections of wheat stocks, warning that old or unfit grain could pose serious health risks. He alleged that subsidised wheat was being transported out of Sindh to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, undermining price stability within the province.

Calling for an immediate review of the policy, the PFMA urged the government to cancel allocations to traders and prioritise millers, warning that unchecked movement of wheat out of Sindh could push up flour prices ahead of the new crop arrival in March.