Milk goes up by Rs4
Karachi Retail Grocers Group general secretary Mohammad Farid Qureshi said that while companies have already informed retailers and shopkeepers about the increase in prices, an official announcement in this regard is expected by Monday.
According to the revised prices, one litre of tetra-packed milk will now cost Rs73 instead of Rs69, while the prices of butter and other dairy products are also expected to go up, said Qureshi. Meanwhile, companies producing dry milk have also decided to increase their prices from Rs25 to Rs30 per kilogramme (kg).
On Thursday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah directed local bodies minister Agha Siraj Durrani and DCO Karachi Lala Fazlur Rehman to hold a meeting and find ways to regulate the price of milk, so that people are able to buy milk at a “fair price”.
The Sindh government has taken note of the change and the secretaries of agriculture and livestock have been asked to help. The problem has gone to court as well where a tussle played out between retailers, the city government, wholesalers and farmers. The problem is that there is no centralised mechanism on fixing the prices of essential commodities.
The All Karachi Milk Retailers Welfare Association has argued that fodder is more expensive as crops were hit by the floods.
In June prices went up and according to the Karachi Retail Grocers Group a 1kg of a powdered milk pack cost Rs465 at the retail level up from Rs425. In May, the maker had raised the price to Rs425 from Rs395. A tetra-pack producer of milk increased the price of one litre to Rs65 from Rs62 in June as well. In May, the price was raised to Rs62 from Rs58. A year ago, powdered milk cost Rs340 and tetra pack milk was Rs55.
Increase in price of oil and sugar
On Thursday, the price of oil was reportedly increased from Rs132 to Rs142 per litre. Similarly, the price of sugar went up from Rs85 per kg to Rs88 per kg in the wholesale market while sugar was sold for as high as Rs92 per kg at retail outlets.
According to sources, wholesalers are allegedly creating an artificial shortage of sugar in the market.
Meanwhile, the Jamaat-e-Islami called for a protest against price hikes across the country on November 5. The JI will rally from the Jamia Binoria Town to the Numaish roundabout under the leadership of JI deputy chairman Professor Ghafoor Ahmed.
Additional reporting by Adil Jawad and Aijaz Shaikh.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2010.
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