Retailers reject 2% profit margin

RAWALPINDI:

A new dispute has emerged between the Punjab Grocery Merchants Association and the government and administration over fixing a profit margin of only 2 per cent per kilogramme on all grocery items.

The association rejected the proposed profit of just Rs2 per kilogramme, calling it "a drop in the ocean". Its central and divisional organisations also rejected the new official deputy commissioner rate lists for major grocery items, including pulses, rice, ghee and cooking oil.

The association has demanded that Punjab Price Control Committee Chairperson Salma Butt immediately convene a provincial-level meeting of the price control committee to address its grievances.

It also demanded that retailers be allowed a minimum profit margin of 10 per cent and that prices of pulses, rice, ghee, sugar, flour and white chickpeas be fixed according to the open market.

Central Patron-in-Chief of the Grocery Merchants Association Saleem Pervez Butt said the government had fixed the official price of gram lentils at Rs220 per kilogramme, while its wholesale price was Rs260 per kilogramme.

He questioned how a shopkeeper could sell gram lentils for Rs220 per kilogramme after purchasing them for Rs260. He said transportation, loading and unloading labour and shopping bag expenses were also included, besides the retailer's profit.