KARACHI: The market of kitchen items is calm in the south of the country despite flash floods in Punjab.
“There is a sense of anxiety but the mood is not reflected in prices which have already been on the higher side,” said a market leader.
Wholesalers say so far floods have not caused ripples in prices as currently vegetable supplies to Karachi are coming from Sindh and Balochistan. They expect the situation to change for worse when flood enters Sindh.
“We hope that water to recede to spare Sindh,” a trader told Dawn on Wednesday.
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They said that onion, tomato, green chillies, ginger and garlic usually become costlier prior to Eidul Azha amid high demand and slow supplies as truckers prefer transporting sacrificial animals from interior Sindh and other parts of the country instead of other commodities.
Chairman Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market Super Highway Haji Shahjehan said that tomato price had already swelled to Rs60-70 per kg from Rs30 last month. “The increase in price of red fruit has nothing to do with the floods in Punjab,” he said, adding that tomato from Balochistan crop is finding its way into Sindh and Punjab.
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He said the price of onion rose to Rs30-35 per kg from Rs25 mainly due to drying up of supplies from Balochistan.
Shahjehan said that Sindh onion crop would hit the markets next month amid lingering fear of enterance of flood water in the province this week.
He said potato used to arrive from Punjab’s cold storage but presently 90 per cent of potato is arriving from China whose price in Super Highway market ranges between Rs40-45 per kg. The price of Chinese potato has fallen due to improved supply which was Rs50 per kg last month, he added.
“Currently all the green vegetables have been arriving from Sindh and Balochistan but the wholesale rates move both ways on demand and supply situation,” he said.
Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Association (KWGA) Senior Vice Chairman Malik Zulfiqar Ali claimed that supply of basmati rice from Punjab (both for export and local consumption) had plunged by 60pc due to the flood.
However, he said that low supply had not caused any spiral in basmati rice prices in view of normal demand in Karachi.
He said supply of black gram from Punjab had not been hit so far. There was also no serious issue of pulses availability as most of pulses were being imported.
Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2014
