KARACHI: Consumers continue to face hardships in buying various commodities as the weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), rose 8.35 per cent for the week ending on Sept 3 year-on-year, showed data on Friday.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the SPI increased by 0.65pc week-on-week.

Prices of items increased week-on-week, including onions (26.30pc), tomatoes (2.55pc), potatoes (0.96pc), petrol (0.90pc), wheat flour (0.88pc), chicken (0.85pc), pulse mash (0.67pc), garlic (0.18pc), mustard oil (0.13pc) and diesel (0.09pc).

On the other hand, major year-on-year increases were observed in the prices of onions (162.75pc), LPG (53.61pc), diesel (37.70pc), petrol (31.01pc), electricity for Q1 (25.24pc), wheat flour (16.86pc), chilli powder (16.37pc), bananas (16.07pc), mutton (16.03pc), beef (13.31pc), fresh milk (8.21pc) and plain bread (8.09pc).

As per official data, countrywide prices of onions are now Rs160-280 per kg, compared with Rs110-250 last week. There is some relief in tomato prices, as consumers had paid up to Rs500 per kg in July, especially in Karachi, due to a demand-supply gap. The national average price of the red fruit is currently Rs120-280 per kg, while people in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been paying the highest rate of Rs220-280 per kg.

Younus Soomro, a tomato grower, said the supply of Iranian tomatoes had been slow, while local demand was being met through the Balochistan crop. Hopefully, he said, prices may stabilise after the arrival of tomatoes from Thatta, Sindh, this month.

In the case of onions, arrivals are getting delayed due to some disturbance in Balochistan. However, middlemen and retailers are playing havoc amid the demand-supply gap, forcing consumers to pay the price.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2026