Eggs for breakfast are pretty universal. Be it the tycoons cocooned behind electric fences and guards in fortresses in Defence or the lower-middle income chap who has a quick bite in the morning before setting off on his two-wheeler, omelettes are a fairly ubiquitous breakfast.
A quick informal poll reveals that the most common omelette type is one with two eggs, some onion, and a tomato. Using data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the cost of an omelette is estimated assuming the ingredients are two eggs, half an onion and half a tomato.
Prices of tomatoes have always been volatile, going as low as Rs30 per kg to easily crossing Rs300. The price of a dozen eggs has increased by over Rs100 over the last year. The cost of the Pakistani beverage of choice, a cup of tea, has increased by Rs10 over the previous year, and a packet of small plain white bread has risen by Rs20.
Overall, in the last year, the cost of one person’s breakfast increased by Rs35-40.
Imagine a ubiquitous household from any Pakistani saas-bahu drama that is currently being aired. There are the adult sons, the frivolous daughter, the nice and not-so-nice daughters-in-law, cranky but wise elderly grandparents, the parents and a few random kids for flavour. Each morning a big enough breakfast is cooked to serve 10 people. An increase of Rs40 per person increases their breakfast cost by Rs400 per day.
That adds up to a whopping Rs12,000 per month increase in breakfast expenses for a household. Extrapolating from the answers given in last year’s surveys carried out online by Business & Finance, almost half of the middle-income group spends upwards of Rs40,000 a month on kitchen expenses.
Breakfast is arguably the least expensive meal of the day. So the roughly 40 per cent increase in its cost, in terms of actual rupees spent, is much less significant than the increase in the rest of the kitchen expenses. Factor in the higher gas expense because of the now necessary gas cylinders and the upcoming Ramazan, during which prices always increase.
This a strange phenomenon indicating profiteering during the holiest month of the year since it is unlikely that the quantum of consumption of food increases just because people are fasting. Yes, people inhale buffets instead of eating them, but even the madness of iftar cannot increase consumption to the point of changing the intersection of supply and demand.
The tangent of illicit activities in Ramazan aside, the increase in the cost of breakfast is a proxy for inflation, underlining the struggles of the middle-income groups.
Celebrity rapper Cardi B in the United States has a fortune of $40m. But recently, she posted a video online, horrified that the cost of lettuce in her neighbourhood has increased from $2 to $7 in months. While there was some backlash, with many arguing why a millionaire is complaining about single-digit dollar expenses, it indicates an awareness among the elite that is still lacking in Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 16th, 2023
