Sugar prices exceed govt-set Rs164 per kg in most cities: PBS

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Refined sugar continues to retail above the government’s official price of Rs164 per kilogram, with data showing average rates ranging between Rs175 and Rs188.7 across major cities.

According to official price monitoring data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday, the highest average sugar price was recorded in Islamabad at Rs188.7 per kg, followed closely by Rawalpindi at Rs186.31, and Khuzdar at Rs185. In comparison, Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad reported relatively lower but still non-compliant average prices of Rs182.84, 180, and 177.32 respectively.

Nearly all surveyed urban centres were found to be selling sugar at inflated prices, suggesting ineffective enforcement of price controls and continued strain on consumer budgets.

The state-mandated price was fixed at Rs164 per kg earlier this year in a bid to control inflation. However, the government has consistently failed to ensure compliance.

The PBS data also showed that weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), increased by 0.27 per cent for the combined consumption groups during the week ended on June 19.

According to PBS data, the SPI for the week under review in the above-mentioned group was recorded at 310.35 points as compared to 309.51 points during the past week.

As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed a decrease of 2.06 per cent.

The weekly SPI with the base year 2015-16 =100 covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.

The SPI for the lowest consumption group of up to Rs17,732 witnessed an increase of 0.05 per cent and went up to 299.58 points from last week’s 299.44 points.

The SPI for consumption groups of Rs17,732-22,888; Rs22,889-29,517; Rs29,518-44,175 and above Rs44,175, went up by 0.05 per cent, 0.10 per cent, 0.13 per cent and 0.42 per cent respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 23 (45.101 per cent) items increased, 08 (15.69 per cent) items decreased and 20 (39.21 per cent) items remained stable.

The items, which recorded major increase in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included LPG (14.86 per cent), potatoes (3.75 per cent), diesel (3.10 per cent), gur (2.25 per cent), chicken (2.17 per cent), sugar (2.13 per cent), petrol (1.88 per cent), mustard oil (1.12 per cent), powdered milk (0.97 per cent), rice basmati broken (0.84 per cent), cooked daal (0.68 per cent), and tea prepared (0.39 per cent).

The commodities which recorded major decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included eggs (9.53 per cent), tomatoes (5.62 per cent), garlic (1.03 per cent), pulse gram (0.35 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (0.17 per cent), cooking oil 5 litre (0.03 per cent) and bananas and firewood (0.01 per cent).

Year-on-year basis, the commodities that witnessed decrease included onions (63.22 per cent), tomatoes (56.11 per cent), electricity charges for q1 (41.63 per cent), garlic (32.58 per cent), pulse mash (19.09 per cent), potatoes (17.97 per cent), tea Lipton (17.93 per cent), wheat flour (14.16 per cent), chicken (6.0 per cent), pulse masoor (5.87 per cent), rice IRRI-6/9 (4.47 per cent) and chilies powder (3.86 per cent).

The commodities which recorded an increase in their average prices on year-on-year basis ladies sandal (55.62 per cent), pulse moong (28.9 per cent), sugar (26.19 per cent), powdered milk (25.93 per cent), lpg (21.77 per cent), eggs (17.9 per cent), beef (15.74 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (13 per cent), vegetable ghee 1kg (12.73 per cent), bananas (12.47 per cent), gur (10.85 per cent), firewood (10.8 per cent) and cooked daal (10.64 per cent). —AFP