Sugar sale halted over pricing standoff

An estimated 70–80% of grocery shopkeepers in Rawalpindi district have suspended sugar sales, driving prices in the inner city to between Rs190 and Rs200 per kilogramme, and to Rs210 in outlying areas.

Many shopkeepers, though holding stock, have now reserved sugar for long-standing customers, refusing to sell to unfamiliar buyers due to the threat of heavy fines, challans, and shop closures. The shortage has worsened further amid Independence Day celebrations and public holidays.

Salim Pervaiz Butt, the president of the Grocery Merchants Association, says shopkeepers are prepared to sell sugar at Rs173 per kilogramme, provided the government, via the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Price Control Magistrates, supplies it to them at a wholesale rate of Rs165 per kilogramme.

"If shopkeepers in the open market are buying sugar at Rs176 per kilogramme, they cannot sell it at Rs173," he stated. "Our only remaining option is to stop selling sugar altogether. The government and the DC do not see it as their duty to supply sugar at the controlled rate.

The administration insists that its sole directive is the official price of Rs173 per kilogramme, and that shopkeepers are free to buy sugar at any price and from any source. Yet, if they fail to sell at the official rate, their shops are sealed, heavy fines imposed, and legal cases registered."