ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: Prices of 19 essential kitchen items, including sugar, witnessed an upward trend during the week ending Nov 17 over previous week, according to statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here on Monday.

The sudden increase in the price of sugar would further squeeze consumers who are already facing surge in prices of perishable farm produce besides steady increase in edible oil price for the last few months, market analysts say.

According to the data, the sugar price in retail market in Islamabad stood at Rs33 per kg, which is the highest in comparison to the rest of the major cities.

In other cities, the per kg sugar price stood in the range of Rs32 to Rs28, which is likely to escalate further as crushing by sugar millers has already been delayed.

The prices of 18 other items went up during the period under review as compared to the previous week.

The price of mustard oil increased by 1.91 per cent to Rs113.08 per kg as against Rs110.96; an increase of 1.46 per cent in vegetable ghee loose, which stood at Rs100.03 per kg during the week under review as against Rs98.59.

The price of washing soap increased by 1.36 per cent to Rs8.97 per cake from Rs8.85, bread plain medium size 1.33 per cent to Rs17.47 each as against Rs17.24; 0.98 per cent increase in red chillies to Rs134.30 per kg as against Rs133.

The prices of rice irri-6 witnessed an increase of 0.84 per cent to Rs24.03 per kg from Rs23.83; wheat 0.79 per cent to Rs15.26 per kg as against Rs15.14, coarse latha 0.76 per cent to Rs38.70 per metres as against Rs38.41, firewood 0.70 per cent to Rs211.89 per 40 kg as against Rs210.42.

The price of chicken farm increased by 0.69 per cent to Rs77.67 per kg as against Rs77.14, cooked dal plate 0.66 per cent to Rs31.96 per kg as against Rs31.75, masoor pulse washed increased 0.53 per cent to Rs59.34 per kg as against Rs59.03, tea (prepared) increased by 0.46 ercent to Rs6.58 per cup as against Rs6.55, egg 0.3 per cent to Rs54.21 per dozen as against Rs54.05, LPG 11 kg cylinder 0.28 per cent to Rs695.38 each as against Rs693.45.

Rice basmati broken price up by 0.24 per cent to Rs33.21 per kg as against Rs33.13, moong pulse washed 0.16 per cent to Rs50.99 per kg as against Rs50.91, and wheat flour 0.12 per cent to Rs16.91 per kg as against Rs16.89.

This surge in the price of daily use items has pushed up the weekly inflation measured through the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) by 9.29 per cent during the week under review over last year.

For the lowest income group, the raise in SPI was in the range of 10 to 12 per cent while the people whose income was over Rs12,000 the increase in SPI was around seven per cent during the week under review.