KARACHI, Dec 13: Taking advantage of the city government’s negligence, retailers and wholesalers have further raised the price of sugar by Rs1.5 per kg during the last three days, setting the commodity price at Rs32 per kg as compared to Rs26.50 last week. A total increase of Rs5.50 per kg has been registered during the last week.

A 100-kg bag of sugar being sold at Rs2,900 just three days back, is now available at Rs2,950 in the wholesale market.

Market sources apprehend that the commodity price would further shoot up by Rs1.5 to Rs2 in the next few days if the city government did not check the price-hike.

The enterprise investment promotion department of the city government, which is responsible for checking the price-hike, has failed to control the growing increase in sugar price.

The retailers blame the wholesale dealers for the recent increase, saying they have been compelled to increase the price as they are buying the commodity at higher rates from the wholesale market. On the other hand, the wholesalers foresee a further increase in the price because of the ongoing tussle between sugar mill owners and growers on the official rate of sugarcane in the province.

The government has fixed the official price of sugarcane for the current year at Rs48 per maund, but the growers are not ready to sell the crop at this rate. The growers demand that the official price of sugarcane be fixed at Rs65 to Rs70 per maund this year. The current year’s crashing season has not yet begun because of the ongoing dispute.

Terming the recent increase in sugar price unjust, Karachi Wholesale Group’s former chairman Anis Majeed said the private sector had imported 500,000 tons of sugar from different countries during the last four months.—Online