KARACHI: The cost of basic kitchen supplies like wheat, ghee, and cooking oil has increased even though the government has claimed that inflation is on the down.
Branded 5-kg and 10-kg fine flour sacks now cost Rs50 and Rs100 more, respectively, according to retailers. Consumers now pay Rs630–650 for a five-kg bag of branded fine flour, up from Rs570–600 a week ago, and Rs1,200–1,300 for a 10-kg bag, up from Rs1,100–1,200.
Additionally, the cost of flour no. 2.5, fine, and super fine flour has increased by an average of Rs. 10 per kilogram.
According to a miller, millers were forced to boost the costs of flour kinds since the open market price for a 100 kg bag of wheat had gone up from Rs7,700 to Rs8,200.
Sheikh Umer Rehan, the chairman of the Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), stated that the abrupt surge in palm oil prices on global markets by $200 to $1,100 per tonne caused ghee and cooking oil prices to rise by Rs40 per litre/kg.
He claimed that the average customs duty levied by the government on the import of palm oil and palm olein is Rs9,500 per tonne. Ghee and cooking oil have a tax incidence of Rs100 per kg/litre from the import to sale stages, of which Rs60 is general sales tax.
