Traders have increased the prices of essential kitchen items as well as Eid-specific items such as clothes, shoes, hosiery, toys, etc, saying that the manufacturers and suppliers have increased the prices with the plea that the government has massively raised electricity tariff.
A survey conducted by Business Recorder showed that the retailers have not only increased the prices of food items on their own, but have also jacked up the prices of Eid-specific items. For instance, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, ginger and garlic are selling at Rs 50 per kg, Rs 30 per kg, Rs 100 per kg, Rs 120 per kg and Rs 110 per kg in the fruit and vegetable markets of the twin cities, which also supply fruits and vegetables to entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Tribal Areas.
In the retail markets potatoes are selling at Rs 40 per kg, onions at Rs 60 per kg, tomatoes at Rs 120 per kg (which earlier were available at Rs 90 per kg), ginger at Rs 160 per kg and garlic at Rs 180 per kg. The difference between the prices of wholesale and retail markets show that the traders are fleecing the poor consumers.
In the absence of proper price monitoring system the retailers are free to fleece the masses as they are selling each and every item on inflated prices. Important pulses such as Dal Mash, Dal Moong, Dal Chana and Dal Masur are selling by retailers on 10-15 percent higher than the official prices. Kitchen items such as chillies, salt, packed and lose milk and green Suih(cardamom) prices also increased.
According to the survey, milkmen have also increased the price of milk from Rs 70 per litre to Rs 80-85 per kg. Yoghurt from Rs 80 to Rs 90 per kg, Phool gobi' (cauliflower) is selling at Rs 35 per kilogram, which was previously available at Rs 25 per kilogram.
Mudasir Ali, a garment trader, told BR that garments and clothing prices have registered some 50-75 percent increase this Ramazan as compared to the last year. Last year, one was able to purchase a normal local made jeans trouser at Rs 700 which now costs Rs 900, a normal shirt was available at Rs 300, which now costs Rs 500, a normal Shalwar kameeZ suit Rs 1,200 including stitching charges of Rs 500, which now costs Rs 1300 and tailors have increased stitching charges from Rs 500 to Rs 800 per suit, he added.
The packed spices supplying companies like Shan, National and others have also increased the prices of packed spices by Rs 5 per pack. He said that the Nestle company has increased the price of per kg powder milk (NIDO) by Rs 30, which previously was selling at Rs 600 per kg and now is available at Rs 630 per kg. He added that suppliers of soft drinks have reduced the margin of shopkeepers. Lipton - the main tea supplying company in Pakistan instead of increasing the price has reduced the size of the tea packs from 200 grams to 190 grams and is charging Rs 125 for 190 gram pack of tea, which previously was being sold at Rs 120.
Good quality ghee/cooking oil is selling at Rs 185-190 per kg and normal quality ghee/cooking oil is available at Rs 175 per kg. The price of wheat flour has increased by Rs 30 per 20-kg bag which is selling at Rs 770 per 20-kg bag against Rs 740 per 20-kg a few days ago.
The survey noted that there is no price increase in the wholesale market, while retailers are stating different excuses for escalated prices. Due to continuous inflationary trend common man is not in a position to purchase any sort of fruit because of skyrocketing prices of the fruits, Haris Qureshi a government servant said.
Giving a comparison between the prevailing fruit prices in wholesale fruit market and retail market, he said that good quality apples are selling at Rs 120 per kg, mangoes at Rs 60 per kg, peach at Rs 60 per kg, banana Rs 75 per dozen, while in retail market apples are selling at Rs 250 per kg, mangoes at Rs 100-120 per kg, peach at Rs 100 per kg, banana at Rs 100-150 per dozen and grapes at Rs 250 per kg. Market survey also indicates that shoe prices have gone up tremendously and a normal pair cost Rs 1000, which is out of reach of poor people. "The government always remains silent to the ill-practices of these profiteers, who during Eid days increase the prices of each and every item manifold," Irshad Malik, a buyer at Islamabad Fruit and Vegetable market deplored.
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