Prices of 31 commodities up; 12 decline

Thursday, July 05, 2012 - Islamabad—The prices of 31 commodities increased in June this year while those of 12 went down and eight remained unchanged as compared to the preceding month, says a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report. The report released on Wednesday said commodities including fruit, wheat, some pulses, and cooking oil etc. registered an average price hike of 3%. However, there was a 3% decrease in prices of eggs, kerosene oil, some vegetables and cooked items.

FAFEN retail price monitors collected prices of 52 commodities and services from 191 retail outlets in 103 districts across Pakistan. During the monitored month, the prices of all fruits went up with bananas registering the highest increase of 20%, followed by dark red apples (6%) and golden apples (3%).

Of the rice varieties, the price of basmati-386 shot up 5%, irri-6 (3%) and basmati broken (2%). Among poultry products, broiler chicken live registered a 4% increase in price while chicken meat went up by 3%. However, there was a 7% decline in price of eggs.

Also going down were the prices of vegetables including onions and tomatoes by 9% and 2% but potatoes were up 1%. The price of gram pulse rose by 3%, followed by washed masoor (2%), red beans (2%) and black gram (1%). There was however, a drop in prices of mash pulse (2%) and chickpeas and white beans (1% each).

The prices of almost all the observed spices and condiments increased with ginger up by 5%, garlic (4%), salt powder (4%) and red chilli powder (1%). Wheat grain and wheat flour also registered a 1% increase in their respective prices. Similarly, the prices of sugar and gur each saw a 1% increase but there was no change in the price of desi shaker.—Online