KARACHI: A dairy product giant has pushed up prices of its products while poultry stakeholders have also played havoc with the prices of live bird and its meat.

General secretary, Karachi Retail Grocers Group (KRGG), Farid Qureishi said a leading multinational dairy company has made two to three price jumps from August to October 2018 without attributing any reasons in their price list issued to retailers.

He said the price of Nestle Bunyad 910 gramme would cost Rs670 from Rs620 from Oct 20 followed by 160g to Rs190 from Rs170. Nido Fortigrow (910g) price has been raised on Oct 6 to Rs840 from Rs780.

He said the company has raised prices of Cerelac products by Rs20 per pack, while Everyday tea whitener (950g) price was raised to Rs825 from Rs770, and 375g to Rs400 from Rs370 from Sept 7.

In August, the company increased the price of Nido1+ (400g) to Rs470 from Rs440 while Nido3+ (1kg pack) price has been increased to Rs1,050 from Rs980.

According to Mr Qureishi, “the PTI government has promised relief to the masses but the measures taken by the government are now going against the consumers.”

He said manufacturers were quick enough to pass on the impact of any increases in duties and taxes, rupee-dollar parity or other reasons, but take too much time in reducing prices in case the government lowers taxes or rupee gains against the dollar.

Defending the price hike, a spokesperson for Nestle Pakistan told Dawn that “the price increase for different brands was mainly because of rising inflation and foreign exchange rates.”

Chicken prices also increase

Chicken dealers have increased live bird price to Rs190-196 per kg from Rs120-130 per kg a week back followed by the meat price to Rs290-340 per kg from Rs230-280 per kg.

General secretary, Sindh Poultry Wholesalers and Retailers Association (SPWRA), Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui said the 50kg bag of poultry feed has risen by Rs60 per bag; it was now around Rs2,230-2,300 while a day old chick price now costs Rs54-56 as against Rs20-25 a month back and Rs10-12 two months back. This was the result of the jump in prices of vaccines and medicines for poultry birds. He said poultry feed is made up of 30-40 per cent imported raw material whose price is also going up due to rupee devaluation.

Prior to this, poultry farmers did not put chicks in the farm for production after they suffered losses due to low prices in the last few months. Now the bird supplies from the farms are short and not able to deal with the rise in demand due to the ongoing marriage season.

However, the daily price list being issued by the Karachi commissioner holds no importance for the consumers as no retailers follow it, terming the official prices unrealistic.

Mr Siddiqui claimed that prices were well under control when SPWRA used to fix the wholesale and retail rates.

The eight per cent loss in the strength of the rupee against the dollar has already started making an impact. Wholesalers of pulses have upped prices by five per cent followed by Rs3-4 per kg/litre price by ghee and cooking oil producers. However, traders anticipate at least Rs10 per kg/litre impact at retailers’ end on the price of ghee and cooking oil.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2018