Punjab flour millers allege Passco supplying water-damaged wheat

Profit reported that Punjab's flour millers are alleging Passco, the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation, has delivered spoiled wheat with moisture above 21 per cent. Asim Raza, a leader of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association, said laboratory checks found readings above 21 per cent, far from the normal 9-11 per cent for wheat. Under the terms he cited, millers must supply flour with at most 14.5 per cent moisture, so such grain is unsuitable for standard-quality flour.

Millers also say some Passco wheat developed mould and a foul smell, leaving it unfit for human consumption. They put Passco's price at Rs3,800 per 40kg, against Rs4,650 in the open market, and say damaged lots can cost them as much as Rs1,100 per bag.

Passco calls the complaints groundless and a senior official says the disagreement is mainly about transport expenses. He said millers prefer collecting from depots closest to their plants, whereas the corporation's rules say other storage sites must be emptied first. The official conceded that a complaint over excess-moisture wheat arose in the Alipur Zone roughly three weeks earlier, and that lot was exchanged at once. Punjab's Food Director General dismissed the charges as well, stating that digital meter readings of moisture came to 8.7 per cent, within safe limits.