KARACHI: Despite dec­lining trend on the international markets, leading packers have decided to raise tea prices from first week of next month, retailers in various areas told Dawn on Tuesday.

Sharing some examples, they said leading distributors have informed them of revised rates for the 1kg and 385 gram tea packs at Rs950 and Rs425 compared to Rs860 and Rs385 while price of 190 gram pack has been increased to Rs210 from Rs190.

The mixture pack of 950 gram and 475 gram will be available at Rs930 and Rs490 as against Rs850 and Rs440 respectively, while 190 gram pack will cost Rs200 as compared to Rs185.

Tea imports swelled by 23 per cent to 223,054 tonnes followed by 4pc jump in terms of value to $571 million during the last fiscal year. However, consumers would pay higher despite drop in average per tonne tea prices in FY19 to $2,563 from $3,034.

A tea importer, on condition of anonymity, said persistent rupee devaluation against the dollar has offset the impact of falling prices in international market. He said whenever leading packers raise prices, the loose tea traders also follow suit but the price hike is slightly minimal from the big packers’ rates.

The country’s total tea demand hovers between 255,000-260,000 tonnes per annum. Keeping in view the import figures the rest of the demand is met by products entering local markets through informal channels.

He said cumulative taxes and duties on tea imports come to 44pc which also encourage tea smuggling. However, arrival of tea from illegal channels usually drops on falling international tea prices and strict curbs at the border.

Prior to this, leading makers of powdered and tetra milk came out with price jerk from the start of this month. For instance, a leading tetra milk producer raised price of one quarter pack to Rs35 from Rs30 while the one litre pack rate had been raised up to Rs135 from Rs130 per litre. Everyday tea whitener 950 gram pack now sells at Rs890 as against Rs865.

Nido milk also became costlier as 910 gram packet now sells at Rs930 while 650 gram and 390 gram packs are being sold at Rs700 and Rs440 respectively. Retailers said Nido product maker had surged prices by up to Rs50 without attributing any reason in the circular issued to retailers.

An official in Nestle Pakistan, who asked not to be named, said the main reason of price surge in Nido and Everyday was 10pc sales tax imposed in the budget 2019-20 in addition to rising interest rates and soaring fuel prices.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2019