Punjab's Wheat Mystery: Millions of Tons Gone Without a Trace

LAHORE: Around 4.5 million tons of wheat have gone missing from Punjab's books, and nobody in the provincial govt seems able to explain where the grain actually ended up. The gap has rattled officials just as Pakistan braces for a fresh wheat crisis despite what was, by most accounts, a strong harvest this year.

Federal and provincial authorities are struggling to enforce this year's wheat procurement policy, and the missing-stock revelation surfaced during a high-level meeting where the numbers simply refused to add up. A senior Punjab official reportedly asked counterparts from other provinces a blunt question: did the wheat come your way? Every province denied it. Officials offered only a shrug and a guess hoarders probably grabbed it.

Punjab Wheat Mystery

The mechanics behind the disappearance trace back to price. The government fixed the official rate at Rs 3,500 per maund, but private buyers balked, calling it too expensive and refusing to purchase at that level. Punjab then handed the private sector a procurement mandate, sweetening the deal with facilitation and private buyers immediately demanded bank loans to fund their purchases. Meanwhile, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa watched wheat prices rocket to Rs 4,500 per maund right at the start of the season.

Also Read: Flour Prices Explode Across Pakistan — Karachi Hits Rs2,500 for 20kg Bag

Sources allege hoarders exploited the chaos ruthlessly, buying wheat directly from farmers at just Rs 2,800 per maund and stockpiling it before prices spiked. Flour prices in multiple cities have already started climbing as a result.

Senior journalist Naeem Ashraf Butt says Punjab's actual wheat procurement fell drastically short of its target the province secured only a fraction of the volume it aimed for. Yet Punjab and Sindh both turned around and demanded millions of tons from PASSCO, the federal grain reserve body that the government itself plans to wind down.

An investigation adds another twist: no formal inquiry into the wheat scandal has launched yet, but sources warn the files could reopen at any moment.

The timing makes the situation harder to defend. Three months after harvest, Pakistan should be exporting surplus wheat, not importing it. However, the country will have to import about one million tons of wheat at a total cost estimated at $350-$400 million which could escalate up to a billion dollars if future imports prove necessary in the upcoming months.

The provincial governments have been demanding Islamabad to utilize the wheat held in their strategic reserves since flour supplies in the country are on the line. Economists have warned that failure to stock sufficient amounts of wheat will result in both increased prices and shortage of supplies.

For a country that just reported a bumper wheat crop, the question hanging over Punjab's granaries is no longer about weather or yield it's about who moved 4.5 million tons of grain, and why nobody can account for it.