Deep pockets needed to buy dry fruits

The prices of dry fruits have gone up with the advent of the winter. A shopkeeper, Kashif, said in Multan on Sunday that the prices of dry fruits were higher this year compared to last year.

He used to sell dry fruits worth Rs30,000 to Rs50,000 daily whereas his sale was barely Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 now.

He said that many shopkeepers had quit the dry fruits business due to reduced sales.

According to the shopkeepers, the rates of pistachio was Rs3,200 to Rs4,000 a kilogram, cashew Rs3,400 to Rs4,400, pine nuts (Chilghoza) Rs8,000 to Rs12,000, fig Rs2,200 to Rs3,000.

Dry apricots were being sold in the market for Rs1,000 to Rs1,400 a kilogram, dried dates Rs550 to Rs800, solid walnuts Rs800 to Rs1400, walnuts Rs3,000 to Rs3,500, roasted chickpeas Rs800 to Rs1,000, almonds Rs2,600 to Rs3,200, paper almonds Rs1,600 to Rs2,000 and groundnuts Rs800 to Rs1,000.

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A citizen, Anwar Shah, said that among the long list of dry fruits, groundnuts and roasted gram, which the common man could buy to some extent, were now becoming out of reach.

Azhar Hayat said that the shopkeepers had arbitrarily increased the prices, each shopkeeper setting their own prices in the same market.

Everyone wanted to eat dry fruits, but they went out of the shops without purchasing any of those items due to high rates. The daily wage class didn’t have the power to buy dry fruits. Citizens have demanded of the administration to ensure a regular check and balance system on the prices of dry fruits so that profiteers could be discouraged, and fruits were made available to the people at affordable prices.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2024