Punjab has decided to replace its existing wheat pricing and procurement model with a new market-based system that eliminates government raids on open-market traders selling grain.
The provincial food department is developing the new model, which will use the average market price of wheat as the official basis for determining government procurement rates each season.
Under the proposed framework, the three-month average price recorded by the Federal Bureau of Statistics or the provincial Price Council will be treated as the official benchmark purchase rate.
The government will buy wheat directly from private traders and stockists at the benchmark rate, after allowing them a defined profit margin, and then supply it onward to flour mills.
The proposed system will make registration and formal wheat declaration mandatory for all stakeholders, including rice shellers, cotton ginning factories, flour mill owners, and commission agents.
The food department will hold the right of first refusal on all declared wheat stocks, giving the government priority access before any grain enters the private open market for commercial sale.
Private owners who decline to sell to the government will be permitted to sell their wheat freely in the open market, removing earlier restrictions that prompted enforcement-driven crackdowns.
Officials say the new system will improve transparency in the wheat trade and enhance the government’s capacity to manage and store grain within state-controlled storage facilities more efficiently.
The food department is also considering integrating aggregators and an electronic warehouse receipt system into the new framework to strengthen oversight and modernise wheat supply chain management.
