PFMA rejects wheat release policy

LAHORE: Rejecting wheat release policy, the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (Punjab Chapter) has warned the government of strike if their demands were not met, a statement said.

“Mills will not lift wheat quota for the next five days. If our grievances are not resolved in five days, we will convene another meeting of millers for taking final decision regarding strike,” PFMA Punjab chairman Asim Raza Ahmed said, while addressing a press conference after the meeting of the mill-owners.

Around 300 mill-owners from across the province converged to discuss the Wheat Release Policy 2021. They rejected the policy for reducing grinding charges and the issuance of wheat quota to mills on population basis.

Grinding charges have been reduced Rs200/100kg, bringing these down to Rs400 from the earlier Rs600, Asim said while demanding the government to revisit the decision.

The major stakeholders (flour mills) were not taken onboard, while devising the wheat release policy for the current year, he said, adding that the extraction ratio had also been changed, which would further hit the mills financially.

He demanded giving wheat quota to mills not on population basis but according to the production capacity.