Country's breadbasket facing flour crisis

Lahore: The Punjab province, considered the breadbasket of the country, is on the verge of another severe flour crisis - not due to smuggling or mismanagement - but because of current energy crisis.

The 10-12 hour power cuts daily mean that the supply time from mill to market has increased from eight hours to 2-3 days which could easily spark another flour crisis in the country.

Flour mill owners in a statement to local media said that if the mills are not exempt from the load-shedding, the country might experience a flour crisis very soon.

The mills also demanded a 15 per cent decrease in general sales tax so that they could make the cost of doing business lower.

In the absence of flour supply from mills to the markets, people tend to rely upon the small grinding machines called chakkis in their neighbourhoods, but load-shedding has also affected their business badly.

The machine owners are keeping their businesses closed because of power outages, during which the machines can not function. The power cuts are scheduled on hourly basis that rotate on one-hour on one-hour off schedule.