Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced Pakistan will be importing three million tons of flour after prices soared in Punjab amid shortages, reported Aaj News on Monday.

A 20-kilogramme sack of flour is being sold at Rs1,300 after a Rs200 increase and supplies to the province have dried up.

While addressing a public gathering in Bisham tehsil of Shangla district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday, the premier asked the K-P chief minister to announce a reduction in the prices of flour in line with the strategy in Punjab.

He said if the K-P government failed in doing so, he would exercise his authority as the prime minister and do it himself.

With the shortage of flour in Punjab, the Sialkot district administration launched a crackdown on hoarders and retrieved at least 19,000 sacks of flour.

A spokesperson for the flour mills association in Punjab said prices went up as the supply of wheat halted. The association demanded mills be provided with subsidised wheat so that prices could be brought down.

Wheat crisis in K-P

The president of flour dealers association in Peshawar, Haji Waheed, said there was no crisis in K-P.

“For the last few days, news was circulating that K-P is facing a crisis but officials are stopping trucks in Attock and are often charging them extra money to cross the city border. This is leading to the crisis in the province, as well as a hike in its [flour] price.”

He said the government was providing flour at subsidised rates, which were lower than what was available in the market.