Prices of essential commodities fall 60%

Better supplies from Sindh, India and Afghanistan brought down rates.

FAISALABAD: After witnessing abnormal increase over the past several weeks, prices of essential food items declined by up to 60% this week on the back of supplies from Sindh, India and Afghanistan, providing much-needed relief to the consumers.

A survey of local fruits and vegetable markets show a significant reduction in the rates of tomatoes, chillies and onions. The supply from India and Afghanistan has improved, which has consequently decreased the prices of vegetables said, Javed Akhtar, a wholesale vegetable dealer in Faisalabad.

While talking to The Express Tribune, he said vegetable prices have decreased up to 60% in the wholesale markets. Fresh produces of vegetables are coming in daily from India, Afghanistan and Sindh to the all vegetables markets of Punjab, said Akhtar.

Khalid Pathan, a wholesale dealer in Faisalabad told The Express Tribune that Sindh’s tomatoes have started arriving in the market and are being sold for Rs40 to Rs50 per kilogram (kg) in the wholesale market. The consumers were paying up to Rs140 for a kilogram of tomatoes just two weeks before, he said.

The wholesale price of onions has plummeted to Rs35 to Rs40 per kg from Rs60 to Rs70 for the same, last week, he said. The prices of chillies decreased to Rs30 per kg in the wholesale market from Rs50 last week, he added. The supplies of fresh produces are expected to improve further by next week, said Pathan.

This year the country had to import vegetables from India and Afghanistan as local production perished due to heavy rains in Sindh, said another fruit trader in Faisalabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2011.