KARACHI: After lifting fruits at comparatively reasonable rates from the wholesale markets at Super Highway, the retailers and push-cart owners are charging higher prices from vulnerable customers, pocketing high profit margin.
Aware of consumers’ interest in citruses, such as kinno and oranges, and indirectly facilitated by the government’s ineffective price control machinery, retailers are said to be exploiting the situation.
Consumers, ignorant of the fair price, end up paying more. The impression in the local market is that high quality fruits are exported and leftovers are supplied for local consumers.
A majority of kinno retailers are demanding Rs100 per dozen for average size and Rs120-160 for big size.
They demand Rs80 per dozen for small size, while oranges are available at Rs100-120 for small size and Rs130-160 per dozen for bigger size in the markets.
According to president, Karachi Wholesale Fruit Association, Agha Qadeem, the wholesale price of kinno is Rs400-450 for 48-64 pieces available in wooden box which means that one kinno costs between seven to nine rupees.
Similarly, the price of 100 pieces of oranges at wholesale market is tagged at Rs800 which means the price of one piece comes to Rs10.
He said both oranges and kinno, arriving from Bhalwal, Sargodha) are available in abundance in the wholesale market and are also being exported to various countries.
He said the price of 15kg wooden box of golden apple ranges between Rs1,500 and 2,000 which usually costs Rs100-133 per kg at wholesale stage. However, in retail markets, retailers are charging Rs140-160 per kg depending on the areas.
The wholesale price of 15kg wooden box of apple (Kullo) hovers between Rs1,000 and 1,100 which makes per kg price at Rs66-73 per kg in the wholesale market.
The Kullo apple is being sold at Rs100-120 per kg. People are purchasing apple of Balochistan crop and the fruit is being supplied from the cold storages.
Guava is arriving mainly from Larkana and also some areas of interior Sindh and its wholesale price is Rs400-500 for 14-15kg box which makes its per kg price at Rs26-35 depending on its quality.
Retailers in the city markets are charging Rs50-80 per kg in various areas.
Pomegranate of Afghanistan is also arriving from the cold storages of Karachi but its wholesale price for the quantity of 13-14kg wooden box is Rs2,000-2,500 which suggests its per kg wholesale price at Rs153-192. However, its retail price in the market is Rs200 to 240 per kg.
Banana is available at Rs40-60 per dozen but its wholesale rate is Rs30-40 per dozen depending on its size and quality.
Retailers said that procurement of kinno and oranges is quite risky in bulk quantities as its quality gradually deteriorates with each passing day.
After demanding high price on the first day of opening, the wooden box, retailers usually drop the price during next couple of days of same purchase due to change in its quality and stiffness.
While most of them do not quote the purchasing wholesale price, they claim that their margin does not exceed Rs10 per dozen/kg.
Retailers blamed higher transportation charges after rise in petroleum products and CNG/LPG prices, couped with rising cost of living, to sharp increase in price of edible items.