Blankets hottest sellers at metropolis Lunda Bazaar

Blankets are the most sold item in Lahore's flea market after used clothes. With the annual sale of old blankets estimated to have mounted to over Rs1.5 billion, the products from Japan and South Korea are reportedly challenging the monopoly of companies producing blankets in the country.

According to the Lunda Bazaar Traders Association, around 10,000 bundles of blankets are sold in the market between September and December each year. A bundle contains 30 blankets. The cheapest blanket is available for Rs500 to Rs600.

A trader in the market, Mohammad Latif, said while speaking to The Express Tribune that most of the blankets are imported from Japan and Korea. The Japanese blanket sold for Rs600 is single layer, but is durable and flexible. The single layer Japanese blankets of a higher quality are sold for Rs800 to Rs1,000 and double layer for Rs2,000 to Rs3,000.

A woman shopping in the market, Nasreen Azam, claimed that the used blankets available there were of a better quality and cheaper than the new ones. Shopkeepers charge the blankets by weight rather than size. She said the prices start from Rs200 per kilogramme.

However, another customer, Abdul Rehman, said the flea market had also become expensive, while most of the products were from China. He said the items of better quality were sent to outlets in upscale areas of the city.

According to vendors, the quality of Japanese blankets is better. They are mostly multi-coloured with light shades and are slightly smaller than Korean blankets. The Japanese woolen blankets are cheaper but are less soft.

Fur blankets, which are softer and more colourful, sell for around Rs1,200. The warmer and softer the blankets, the higher the prices. Rabbit fur blankets are reported to be the most expensive.

A visit to the Lunda Bazaar showed that very few blankets had been imported from Britain but their quality and prices were higher.

According to a shopkeeper, Mohammad Ramzan, the price of a double layer, single-bed blanket starts from Rs1,000 with up to 20 per cent profit. The wholesalers and importers also earn as much profit. It is estimated that blankets worth Rs1.5 billion to Rs1.75 billion are sold during a season.

The secretary general of Anjuman-e-Tajiran Lunda Bazaar, Sheikh Naeem Badshah, said the market had been shrinking with the passage of time and most of the Nolakha Bazaar now consisted of shops of new products. However, he claimed that 90% of the people of Lahore used some item or the other from the used goods markets.

He said the higher sale of blankets was because of their need in every family and their quality as compared to the local products.

He claimed that Lahore's Lunda Bazaar attracted more customers than that in Karachi. The trader said the government subsidised other basic necessities but not paid attention to the sector of used clothes.

The traders said the price of a bundle of blankets had increased from Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 during the past year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2022.