October 25, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 12, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 24: Onion has become costlier due to expensive imports from Afghanistan and Iran, while there has been some relief in the prices of tomato after it touched a record peak of Rs140 per kg following arrival of consignments from India.

In potato, new crop from Balochistan has started arriving at the Subzimandi at higher prices, ranging between Rs14 abd 15 per kg. Punjab’s new crop will hit the market after Nov 15.

Onion now sells at Rs25 to Rs28 per kg depending on the area and quality as against Rs24 per kg on Oct 1.

Similarly, dealers are charging Rs16-18 per kg for potato while it was available at Rs15 a kg on Oct 1.

Tomato prices had peaked to Rs80-100 per kg in Karachi and up to Rs140 per kg in the upcountry ahead of Eidul Fitr.

Currently it is priced at Rs40 a kg almost same as prevailing on Oct 1.

The Eidul Fitr factor, coupled with demand and supply gap caused by the end of various crops in the producing areas, has played a major role in pushing up prices to peak level.

A vegetable dealer at Tariq Road said it is an irony that Pakistan being an agriculture country has to import average quality of greens from India, Afghanistan and Iran to meet its domestic demand after making shipment of quality products to various countries.

He said that the middleman (Aarti) also contributes to increase in prices as sometime they strike a deal with growers and lift the whole crop, and later they adopt dilly-dallying tactics in releasing stocks at a time when gap between demand and supply goes up phenomenally. The government is yet to check this practice.

On many occasions, growers are seen destroying the standing crop of various greens when they see that they are not getting the required prices from the markets, he said.

However, vegetables dealers also play a havoc with consumers. They take out more than the actual amount of transportation cost from consumers’ pocket.

Transportation of vegetables from Subzimandi on Superhighway to various city destinations on Suzuki vans adds Rs 1 to two per kg and after including labor charges, it makes a cumulative impact of Rs3 to Rs4 per kg on retail prices.

President, Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market Subzi Mandi, Haji Shahjehan, said prices of onion, tomato and potato are likely to stabilise after Nov 15 when new crops from various provinces will start hitting the market.

He said onion varieties from the new Sindh crop have started arriving but in little quantity. Currently only 60 to 70 trucks are arriving from various parts of Sindh and its prices range between Rs25 and Rs30 per kg. Full arrival from Sindh crop will pick up pace after Nov 15. Consumers in Karachi are mainly using Iranian onion, while NWPF and Punjab customers are consuming Afghani crop. In order to bridge the gap between demand and supply, Pakistan had to import onion from Afghanistan and Iran.

Afghani and Iranian onion is selling at Rs16-17 per kg and Rs14 per kg respectively at the wholesale market. Some 700-800 tons is arriving daily from these two neighboring countries for the last one month and a half months.

As the new crop of Sindh has started, enquiries from Malaysia, Colombo and some other Far Eastern countries have started pouring in. Indian crop is also coming after one month.

The new Sindh crop is good both in condition and quantity this year.

In tomato, Indian imports are being consumed. In Subzimandi, its price range between Rs30-40 per kg depending on the quality. The new Sindh crop will arrive after Nov 15, Shahjehan said, adding some four containers, carrying 26 tons each, have already arrived by a ship.

In potato, two prices are prevailing at Subzimandi. The price of old crop, which was piled up at cold storages, is between Rs12-13 per kg, while the price of new crop from Quetta is between Rs14 and 15 per kg.