February 11, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 22, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Feb 10: Prices of 17 kitchen items, including onions, registered a massive increase during the week ended Feb 9, statistics division said on Saturday.

Among key items, price of onion rose by 21.38 per cent to Rs29.30 per kg during the week as against Rs24.14 in the previous week.

Moreover, an increase of 5.93 per cent was registered in the price of LPG (11kg cylinder) which was being sold for Rs652.47 as against Rs617.82 in the previous week.

The price of potato increased by five per cent to Rs12.17 per kg from Rs11.59, garlic registered an increase of 3.46 per cent and was available at Rs68.99 per kg as against Rs66.68, rice basmati broken was up 2.97 per cent to Rs22.19 per kg as against Rs21.55, rice irri-6 increased by 2.48 per cent to Rs16.96 per kg from Rs16.55; red chillies rose by 1.06 per cent to Rs100.93 per kg as against Rs99.87, chicken farm increased by 1.06 per cent to Rs69.79 per kg as against Rs69.06, mash (washed) increased by 0.87 per cent to Rs70.38 per kg as against Rs69.77.The price of electric bulb (60 Watts) increased by 0.87 per cent to Rs12.18 each as against Rs12.12, moong (washed) registered an increase of 0.47 per cent to Rs57.48 per kg as against Rs57.21, milk fresh rose by 0.23 per cent to Rs26.56 per litre as against Rs26.50, vegetable ghee (loose) registered an increase of 0.22 per cent, and was being sold at Rs72.12 per kg as against Rs71.96, gram pulse washed increased by 0.17 per cent to Rs47.03 per kg as against Rs46.95.

Firewood price increased by 0.15 per cent to Rs195.76 per 40 kg as against Rs195.46. There was an increase of 0.13 per cent in masoor pulse washed to Rs46.99 per kg as against Rs46.93 and an increase of 0.13 per cent in mutton to Rs223.80 per kg as against Rs223.50, respectively.

The statistics showed that price of onion had started picking up again due to disruption in supply of local production in the market.

Moreover, steady increase in the base price of LPG by the government also pushed up the LPG cylinder price during the last one month.

The maximum export of rice also resulted into lower availability of rice in the local market, resultantly the price of rice is steadily on the rise for the past few weeks.