June 20, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1423

KARACHI, June 19: One of the leading ghee and cooking oil makers has decided to increase the price of ghee and cooking oil by Rs9-10 per kg in a couple of days, while others may follow suit following the levy of 15 per cent general sales tax (GST) at factory level.

In another development, distributors of leading packers have already started revealing new prices to the retailers.

Retailers said the distributors of Lever Brothers, which enjoyed major market share in ghee and cooking oil, had given the new price of five litre tin at Rs395 as compared to pre-budget price of Rs345, while the 2.5 litre tin will carry new tag of Rs205 as against Rs175.

“We have calculated the impact of 15 per cent GST as well as rising palm oil prices in the world markets,” officials in one of the leading ghee companies said.

“The impact of GST comes to Rs5-6 per kg while Rs3-4 per kg has been calculated as an impact of surging palm oil prices,” he said.

The new prices of ghee and cooking oil will become effective by end of this week, he added.

Executives of other companies were busy in calculating the impact, but as per past practice they are waiting for the price hike announcement by the leading consumer product giant and then follow suit.

The impact of 15 per cent GST had already been witnessed on 16kg ghee tin prices on Monday, rising by over Rs50 per pack. As a result, the loose ghee had also become costlier to Rs50-55 per kg in various areas as against pre-budget price of Rs40-45.