Sharp increase was witnessed in the prices of most of the essential kitchen items including chicken, eggs, sugar, cooking oil and wheat flour last week as compared to the preceding week, reveals a survey carried out by Business Recorder on Saturday. Traders in different markets of the twin cities of Rawalpindi/ Islamabad said that skyrocketing increase was witnessed in price of live chicken due to non-availability of sufficient stock on the local markets.
Though the wholesale price of live chicken was Rs 175 per kg last week as compared to the preceding week, it was being sold at Rs 192 per kg against Rs 150 per kg week past price, registering an increase of Rs 42 per kg, they maintained. While talking to Business Recorder, chicken retailers stated that poultry production had reduced and thousands of birds had perished due to the certain reasons such as hot weather and long spells of power outages. They linked the price hike of poultry birds to the shortfall in the supply from the farms during the last few days. Significant increase was also noted in the prices of other essential kitchen items due to the decision to increase general sales tax (GST) as 20-kilogram wheat flour bag was being sold at Rs 735 against Rs 720 reflecting an increase of Rs 15 per bag, ghee was available at Rs 190-195 after an increase of Rs 5 per kg, rice price increased by Rs 3 per kg and it was being sold at Rs 140-143 per kg, eggs by Rs 6 from Rs 72 to Rs 78 per dozen, and sugar by Rs 4 from Rs 53 to Rs 57 per kg.
On the other hand, prices of majority of perishable food items like vegetables and fruits remained stable while some of them witnessed decline in their prices last week as compared to the preceding week.
The survey noted decline in tomato price as it was being sold at Rs 45-50 per kg against Rs 55-60 per kg week past price, registering a decrease of Rs 10 per kg, onions were being sold at Rs 50 per kg, Karela at Rs 60 per kg, Shimla Mirch at Rs 60 per kg, garlic at Rs 180 per kg, ladyfinger was being sold at Rs 70 per kg, cucumber at Rs 35-40 per kg, potatoes at Rs 40 per kg and Arvai at Rs 70-80 per kg.
The survey noted that fruit prices also remained stable last week as compared to the preceding week as watermelon was being sold at Rs 30-35 per kg, melon at Rs 40-50 per kg, banana at Rs 100-120 per dozen, mango at Rs 100-140 per kg and Falsa at Rs 200-210 per kg. Meanwhile, no change was noted in the prices of mutton and beef as mutton was available at 580-600 per kg whereas beef was being sold at Rs 280-290 per kg.