Prices of most of the food items ie vegetables, wheat-flour, cooking oil, sugar, pulses, spices, milk and tea are witnessing increasing trend for last four months, but after Ramazan prices of these items have registered an unprecedented rise.
Traders at wholesale market Rawalpindi, talking to Business Recorder, said that suppliers of cooking oil/ghee have confirmed that they would increase the price of cooking oil/ghee by Rs 10 per kg from Tuesday, which is currently being sold at Rs 140 per kg and would be available at Rs 150 per kg.
Asif Khan, a trader, said that 5 kg tin of better quality cooking oil is presently being sold at Rs 780 and 2.5 kg at Rs 400. After the jacked up prices these would be available at Rs 820 and Rs 430 respectively, Asif added.
He said that sugar was being sold at Rs 100 per kg in the open market just two days back, but now it is being sold at Rs 110, and its price is expected to increase further. He said that 100 kg bag of imported sugar is being traded at Rs 8,300, while the same quantity of local sugar was being traded at Rs 10,200 in the wholesale market two days ago. But now 100 kg bag of local sugar is available at Rs 10,800 and imported at Rs 8,600.
According to traders at fruit/vegetable market Islamabad, after Ramazan prices of vegetables and fruits increased due to limited supply as floods destroyed standing crops across the country, but now supplies of the vegetables and fruits have been restored.
According to them, local vegetable/fruit sellers are charging high prices from consumers as officials concerned have no check on prices. Traders said that vegetables like onion, potatoes and tomatoes are being sold at Rs 70, Rs 40 and Rs 45 per kg in the wholesale market respectively, while vegetable sellers of twin cities are charging Rs 90, Rs 50 and Rs 60 per kg.
However, consumers have blamed the traders for increasing prices of fruits and vegetables by creating artificial shortage due to Eid ul Azha. Hotel owners have also increased the prices of cooked food like different pulses, vegetables, mutton, chicken and beef from Rs 40 to Rs 50, Rs 30 to Rs 40, Rs 60 to 75, Rs 60 to Rs 75 and Rs 80 to Rs 100 per plate respectively, which a common man earning 250 per day can not afford.
Abdul Rehman, a customer at a vegetable shop, said, "The price hike is because of profiteers and hoarders of vegetables and fruits". "This is routine. Every year, prices of daily commodities go up in Ramazan and before the two Eids ie Eid-ul-Fitar and Eid-ul-Azha," said another buyer.
During the past week, price of apples increased from Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg, pomegranate from Rs 120 to Rs 140 per kg, tomato from Rs 50 to Rs 60, garlic from Rs 250 to Rs 300 per kg and ginger from Rs 220 to 240, Brinjal (Bengan) from Rs 25 to Rs 30. The unprecedented increase in prices is also evident from the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), released by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) for the week ending November 4. According to FBS, SPI inflation for the lowest income group up to Rs 3,000, has registered an increase of 1.31 percent over the previous week.
Muhammad Rafi, a customer at Karachi Company Market, said his monthly salary is Rs 10,000 and he has three children. "How can I make both ends meet under the prevailing circumstance?" He added that the government should play its role, otherwise low paid salaried class will be forced to commit suicide and indulge in criminal activities.
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