KEY POINTS
- Flour and rice prices surge sharply in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Punjab amid floods and supply bottlenecks.
- Punjab’s monitoring of wheat consignments slows inter-provincial flows, straining other provinces.
- Hoarding and profiteering fuel price spikes, with official enforcement struggling to keep pace.
- Analysts predict relief only if new harvests enter markets and flows/hoarding are regulated.
ISLAMABAD: Why has the price of flour in Pakistan suddenly jumped within weeks? From Quetta to Peshawar, consumers are returning from the market puzzled and worried as staple food prices spike, with bakers shrinking bread sizes and grocers reporting restless queues.
The surge has left many wondering whether recent floods have genuinely wiped out food supplies or whether traders and middlemen are exploiting the crisis.
Prices of a 20-kg flour bag have crossed Rs 2,400–2,500 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rs 2,000–2,100 in Quetta.
Similarly, rice bags in Rawalpindi’s wholesale markets are being bid up to nearly Rs 9,500, compared to Rs 8,000 just weeks ago, according to local traders and wholesale market reports.
Floods, bottlenecks and the first signs of panic
Officials admit that floods have damaged croplands in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but agricultural scientists caution that overall wheat supply has not collapsed.
Professor Zulfiqar Ali of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, after touring affected districts, told BBC Urdu that while riverbank plots were hit hard, “many core growing areas were spared,” stressing that panic and supply-chain delays could be driving prices as much as actual losses.
In provincial capitals, however, the effects are already visible. Bakers in Quetta told BBC Urdu that they have no choice but to raise prices or shrink loaf sizes, while traders complain that shipments from Punjab have slowed since checkpoints were set up to monitor grain movements.
The Punjab connection and inter-provincial curbs
Punjab produces most of Pakistan’s wheat. Its recent decision to tighten monitoring of wheat consignment movements out of the province has sparked controversy.
Punjab authorities, speaking to Dawn, insist they never imposed a blanket ban, only checks on “unusual or suspicious” movements.
However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Food Minister, Zahir Shah Toru, told his provincial assembly this week that these measures amount to a de facto blockade, leaving KP’s markets vulnerable to profiteering and pushing retail rates up.
Balochistan officials, including Deputy Director Jaber Baloch, told BBC Urdu that their provincial godowns are too small to replace the sudden shortfall from Punjab.
They warn that unless inter-provincial flows are restored quickly, even subsidised wheat releases will not stabilise prices.
Traders, hoarders and the profiteering debate
Beyond weather and checkpoints, accusations of hoarding are flying. Business leader Shahid Rasheed Butt warned in a media statement that hoarders are “exploiting natural disasters for profit,” noting that some wholesale prices had climbed 15–25% within days.
Authorities in Punjab, speaking to local media, claim they have raided warehouses and uncovered hidden stocks, but enforcement remains patchy.
Flour millers also allege that some dealers are deliberately pulling wheat off the market to create artificial shortages, betting that retail prices will rise further.
In Rawalpindi, commission agent Bilal Hafeez told BBC Urdu that traders were holding back stock and driving the rice prices up by more than Rs 1,000 per bag within a fortnight.
Government measures and public frustration
Provincial governments are scrambling to contain the fallout. Punjab has banned the use of wheat in poultry feed for 30 days and suspended senior food officials after reports of mismanagement in storage, according to provincial government notifications.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has demanded unrestricted wheat supplies, while its assembly passed a resolution urging Islamabad to intervene.
In Balochistan, the food department has promised limited spot sales, though officials concede, speaking to BBC Urdu, their reserves are inadequate.
Meanwhile, consumers remain caught in the middle. Housewives in Peshawar told local TV channels that chapati sizes are shrinking and family budgets are tightening.
Shopkeepers in Quetta told BBC Urdu that customers now haggle over every kilo, fearful that tomorrow’s price could be even higher.
What lies ahead
Analysts, including Professor Zulfiqar Ali of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, predict some relief once fresh harvests enter the market, but only if inter-provincial flows are normalised and hoarding curbed.
If enforcement against profiteering remains weak, prices could stay volatile until late in the season.
For now, Pakistan’s most basic staple — the daily roti — has become a litmus test of whether government and markets can restore order once the floods are over.
