Flour millers concerned at ban on wheat procurement.

LAHORE -- Flour millers have expressed their concerns at reports that they will be barred from procuring wheat in the forthcoming season arguing the step will not only hurt interests of farmers but also lead to overburden the provincial kitty.

In a letter to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Food Minister Samiullah Chaudhry and other food officials, Khaleeq Arshad and Majid Abdullah argued that a healthy competition between flour mills and government agencies in the procurement drive resulted in payment of reasonable rate to wheat growers as in case of drop in the official rate of Rs1,365 per 40kg the food department and PASSCO would be there to take care.

They said the government would have to allocate Rs154 billion funds for procuring 4.5 million tons of wheat, the target set for this season, and would have to incur on an average Rs100 million daily for six months on the storage of the purchased grains.

They said flour millers could share the financial burden of the government if allowed to remain as...