KARACHI (The Thursday Times) — Imported wheat has reached Karachi and the grain has become cheaper in the open market, but if you buy your roti from a tandoor or your flour from a corner shop, you have not seen any of it yet.
The first ship, carrying 51,000 tonnes, berthed on October 28, and open-market wheat fell from Rs140 to Rs130 a kilo. A second ship with 58,132 tonnes was due on Tuesday. Flour mills cut their prices by Rs5 a kilo too. The shop price has not moved.
What you are paying in Karachi
- Chapati: Rs20
- Naan: Rs30 to Rs35
- Sheermal or taftaan: Rs100 to Rs110
- Qulcha: Rs90 to Rs100
- Flour No 2.5: Rs170 to Rs180 a kilo at the shop, against Rs156 at the mill
- Maida: Rs185 to Rs190 a kilo at the shop, against Rs168 at the mill
- Fine flour: Rs185 to Rs190 a kilo at the shop, against Rs171 at the mill
Why the roti has not got cheaper
For the tandoor, flour is only part of the bill. One tandoor owner said the price of liquefied petroleum gas, at Rs500 to Rs550 a kilo, had cancelled out the small cut in flour. “It will be hard to sustain our operations in case LPG prices go up further,” he said.
Wholesaler Rauf Ibrahim blamed regulators for failing to check inflated retail rates. He also said the planned import of 750,000 tonnes would not be enough, because the country needs more than two million tonnes until the new crop arrives from Sindh and Punjab between March and May. He wants private companies and millers allowed to import grain as well.
Workers earning under Rs50,000 a month now spend almost everything they make on food, Ibrahim said, leaving little for their children’s education.
Where flour costs the most
Karachi and Hyderabad pay the most, according to the Sensitive Price Index for the week ending October 29. A 20kg bag costs up to Rs3,540 in Karachi and Rs3,360 to Rs3,400 in Hyderabad, against an average of Rs3,200 elsewhere. A miller said Karachi pays more because it grows no wheat of its own and relies on grain from the rest of Sindh.
If you buy wheat to have it ground, the picture is different. A 10kg bag is dearest in Sukkur at Rs1,488, followed by Peshawar at Rs1,469, and cheapest in Sargodha at Rs1,223 and Bahawalpur at Rs1,266.
