CHANDIGARH: The prices of maida (refined wheat flour) are soaring due to escalating international prices following the Ukraine conflict. The result is bakery products such as bread and biscuits could be costlier soon.
Sources said the price of wheat has touched Rs 2,350 per quintal in Punjab from Rs 2,260 last month. The flour millers believe that sellers would not step in the market until prices touch around Rs 2,450.
This has affected the maida price, which hovers around Rs 2,800 per quintal in Punjab against Rs 2,500 a month before.
The market buzz is that at Kandla port in Gujarat, from where maida is traded abroad, the price has touched around Rs 3,000 per quintal with rumours of it becoming even more costly in the coming days due to the overseas demand pressure. Traders are trying to get in touch with flour millers in Punjab and other states.
The price of wheat flour has gone up to Rs 2,600 per quintal from Rs 2,400 two months back. With 5% GST, wheat flour price has already increased by Rs 140 per quintal. Naresh Ghai, president of the Punjab Roller Flour Mills Association, said the rates of maida have gone up in the last few months across states.
“We are only processors of wheat. The maida rates depend on the prices of wheat in the market. As the Punjab government has procured most of wheat in comparison with other states, the Centre should issue wheat under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) for processors in Punjab so that the maida and suji (granulated wheat or semolina) rates come down.”
More than one lakh lakh metric tonne of maida is exported. This year it might be a little more due to the rise in demand, said Ghai.
Vivek Nijhawan, owner of Magic Dough, and Jas Partap, owner of IL Forno Magico bakers, say production cost of bread and biscuits has gone up. “We have not yet passed it on to the consumer. But if maida prices keep increasing at this pace, we will have no option but to raise the prices of bakery products,’’ says Nijhawan.