07/02/2008 (The Dawn, Pakistan) - While the flour crisis has eased, the government is fearing a rise in prices of cooking oil and ghee, prompting President Pervez Musharraf to ask the Federal Food Committee (FFC) to take immediate steps to keep the prices of edible oil, sugar and pulses under control.

The committee has to monitor the supply of cooking oil and ghee whose prices are hovering around Rs125-130 a kg, compared to Rs65 a kg three months ago.

Prices of edible oil may spiral out of control in coming days because of an increase in the price of palm oil in the international market, triggered by extraordinary Chinese purchases. More than half (56 per cent) of Pakistan’s cooking oil and ghee are made from palm oil.

Briefing newsmen here on Thursday, FFC chairman Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan said there was a need to check the production and sale of sub-standard cooking oil and ghee whose sale was constantly on the rise. He said there were 155 cooking oil and ghee mills in Pakistan but only 50 or 60 of them were licenced: the rest were illegal.

There are hundreds of small units in various cities manufacturing unbranded, untreated and low-quality but cheap oil that is dangerous for health.

He said the committee had asked the Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) to work out a plan to increase oilseed production, while the government had been requested to ensure the quality of ghee and oil.

The FFC has also asked the provinces to further bring down the ex-factory price of flour.

Gen Farooq said ex-mill price in Sindh had been brought down to Rs290 per 20-kg from Rs340, which needed to be reduced further because all the wheat being ground in Sindh came from the government stock.

According to rules, on a daily basis mills should grind 30 per cent of wheat from their own stock and 70 per cent from government warehouses.

The committee has also stopped for two weeks supply of wheat to five Karachi-based mills which were not lifting their assigned quota. The mills are Aliya Flour Mills owned by Mr Saleem; Masoom Flour Mills belonging to Mr Naresh; Bahawalpur Flour Mills owned by Wazir Ali; Talha Flour Mills of Amir Ali and Qandahari flour Mills owned by Ibrar Ahmed.

The committee has also imposed a total of Rs92,200 fine on four shopkeepers for selling flour at Rs24 per kg in New Karachi.

Gen Farooq said mills in the NWFP had started functioning properly after they suffered technical problems for quite some time because of power outages. Some 1,800 tons of wheat that could not be ground because of power cuts in tribal areas had now been ground and supplied to the market.

The FFC also sought more trains from the Pakistan Railways and vehicles from the Truckers Association to ensure timely supply of 1.1 million tons of wheat that would be imported in the next two months to replenish government reserves.

Current government stocks are sufficient for 46 days. But wheat in the NWFP is sufficient for only two weeks and in Balochistan for 25 days. The FFC wants to enable both the provinces to keep sufficient wheat reserves so that flour price did not shoot up again.

The FFC also decided to issue 15-day quota to Azad Kashmir.

It is also exerting pressure on state-run laboratories in Karachi and Islamabad to ensure quality testing of flour within 24 hours. Several consumers have complained about the sale of sub-standard flour.