High-level meeting reveals 4.5 million tons of wheat missing in Punjab

LAHORE: A high-level government meeting has revealed that a staggering 4.5 million tons of wheat have gone missing from Punjab, ARY News reported.

According to sources, during the high-level huddle, a senior Punjab official questioned representatives from other provinces, asking if the missing wheat had been transported to their territories.

While officials from other provinces denied any knowledge of the cross-provincial movement, they noted that large-scale hoarding could be a primary reason behind the missing stock.

Sources further explained that the crisis stems from the government fixing the wheat support price at Rs 3,500 per maund (mon).

Because the official rate was deemed too expensive, the private sector initially refused to procure the grain.

Although the Punjab government assigned procurement tasks to private businesses and offered buying incentives, the private sector countered by demanding bank loans to finance the purchases.

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Meanwhile, since the start of the season, open-market wheat prices in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have surged to Rs 4,500 per maund.

Taking advantage of the price disparity, hoarders reportedly bought wheat directly from struggling farmers at a heavily deflated rate of Rs 2,800 per maund to build up illegal private stockpiles.