Prices of potatoes might decline considerably shortly when its supply from Quetta, Kohat and Balakot would start reaching the local markets, sources told Business Recorder. Though the government had allowed duty-free import of potatoes, the price of potatoes remained above Rs 70 per kg in the retail market. Shopkeepers said that they have nothing to do with the potatoes' soaring prices because they had been buying the commodity from wholesale market at higher rates.
They were, however, hopeful that with the arrival of potato's local new crop its prices would decline considerably. It may be recalled here that the government with a view to ensuring potatoes' prices at Rs 30 per kg in retail had withdrawn duty on its import, besides imposing duty on its export.
On May 2, 2014 the government had imposed 25 percent regulatory duty on the export of potato and on May 5 had allowed import of 200,000 tons of potatoes on zero duty till July 31, 2014. Though the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) with a view to lowering the prices of potato had extended tax holiday up to November 15, 2014, the move has, so far, failed to bring down the prices of potato in retail. Retailers claimed that potatoes available in the market were from cold storages, as it was off-season for potato production. They said that the quality of imported potatoes was poor.
The price of locally grown potato was tagged at Rs 55 per kg in wholesale but it was being sold at about Rs 70 per kg in retail. The Chinese potato is being sold at Rs 50 per kg in wholesale, while Indian potato is being sold at Rs 45 per kg in wholesale. In May, the government had claimed that the country had a surplus stock of 1.1 million tons of potatoes lying in the cold storages.