The Sindh government will procure only 1.4m tonnes of wheat out of the 3.8-3.9m tonnes of the grain the province is likely to produce. Reuters/File
THE increase of Rs600 in per 40kg support price of wheat by the Sindh government looks attractive to farmers on the face of it. However, this increase of almost 43 per cent will not benefit consumers in terms of flour prices as they will continue to pay Rs64 to Rs70 per kilogram of flour.
Interestingly, the farmers might not be able to get this support price. The Sindh government will procure only 1.4m tonnes of wheat out of the 3.8-3.9m tonnes of the grain the province is likely to produce. Additionally, the inter-provincial smuggling of wheat from Punjab to Sindh would be now on the cards if federal and provincial governments stick to their respective prices.