Flour prices to rise after hike in wheat rates in Karachi

Prices of flour have surged in Karachi after wheat prices spiked in the last two weeks, leading to a call from flour millers for instant action by the government to bring stability in the wheat market. The grade 2.5 flour has increased from Rs119 per kg to Rs132 per kg, and fine flour price has gone up to above Rs140 per kg, said Junaid Aziz, Chairman of the Flour Mills Association. He said the rise was due to the increasing prices of wheat, which has increased from Rs106 per kg to Rs118 per kg in the same time. Aziz said the government should approve the import of the wheat soon, or otherwise it would give rise to hoarding and further drive up the price. He said that Pakistan might require importation of 3-4 million tonnes of wheat to meet the needs of the market, but added that imports should be restricted to the actual requirement of the local market to ensure protection of the local wheat growers. In summer, Karachi uses approximately 2 to 2.2 million flour bags per month, while the demand in winter is almost 2.6 million bags per month, he added. As the price of flour keeps rising, consumers are increasingly burdened financially, and there is no respite in sight.

Pakistan’s weekly inflation rises as vegetable and chicken prices surge

Pakistan’s short-term inflation moved higher during the week ending June 18, driven mainly by a sharp increase in the prices of vegetables and poultry, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which measures weekly changes in the prices of essential goods, increased by 0.46 per cent compared to the previous week. Among the biggest contributors to the rise were tomatoes, whose prices surged 16.65 per cent in just one week. Potatoes became 6.82 per cent more expensive, while chicken prices climbed 5.60 per cent. Consumers also faced higher costs for washing soap, gur, mutton, LPG, eggs, fresh milk and curd.