A high-level government meeting has uncovered that 4.5 million tons of wheat have gone missing from Punjab, ARY News reported.
During the meeting, a senior Punjab official questioned representatives from other provinces over whether the missing wheat had been transported to their territories.
Officials from other provinces denied any knowledge of such cross-provincial movement, though they pointed to large-scale hoarding as a likely factor behind the missing stock.
Sources said the crisis stems from the recent decision to fix the wheat support price at Rs 3,500 per maund. Since the rate was considered too high, the private sector initially refused to procure the grain.
The Punjab government later assigned procurement duties to private businesses and offered incentives to encourage buying. In response, private buyers demanded bank loans to finance the purchases.
Meanwhile, open-market wheat prices in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have climbed to Rs 4,500 per maund since the start of the season.
Taking advantage of this price gap, hoarders reportedly purchased wheat directly from struggling farmers at a deflated rate of Rs 2,800 per maund, using the difference to build illegal private stockpiles.
