Smuggling has pushed up the prices of Moong and Mash [pulses] in retail market since March this year, retailers told Business Recorder on Saturday. The price of Mash has shot up by Rs 55 per kg and Moong by Rs 36 per kg in the last three months, they added.
"Some 80 containers of pulses were seized last month, which were being smuggled out of the country by misdeclaring these as rice consignments," they said. Mash was being sold at Rs 105 per kg in March, Rs 140 in April and currently being sold at Rs 160, they pointed out.
Similarly, Moong was being sold at Rs 94 per kg in March, at Rs 110 in April while currently it is being sold at Rs 130 in retail market, they maintained. "The phenomenal surge in major pulses' prices have pulled down their sales almost by 80 percent. Now consumers buy low quantity of pulses due to weak purchasing power," they said. They said though the government had banned pulses export, but their smuggling through mis-declaration continued.
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