Food prices stay high despite falling fuel costs

KARACHI: Retail prices of key food items in Karachi have remained elevated despite a marked decline in diesel and liquefied petroleum gas prices, with tomatoes, flour and cooking oil among the products that have become costlier in recent weeks.

Tomatoes have been selling at Rs300 to Rs400 per kg over the past 10 days, compared to Rs120 to Rs160 per kg in the third week of June and Rs80 to Rs100 per kg about a month ago. Onion prices have increased by Rs20 per kg over the last month to Rs100 to Rs120 from Rs80 to Rs100. Potato prices, however, have stayed at Rs40 to Rs80 per kg depending on size and quality.

Tomato grower Younus Soomro said supplies are currently short because only crops from Balochistan are reaching markets and are insufficient to meet demand across the country. He said tomato planting in Sindh is beginning now and the crop may be ready by mid-September. He also said smaller Iranian tomato varieties have started entering Pakistan due to security-related reasons.

Haji Shahjehan, president of the Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market at New Sabzi Mandi Super Highway, said the Sindh tomato crop had ended in April, while produce from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab usually arrives in May and June and largely remains within those provinces to satisfy local demand. He said tomato prices could stay under pressure this month, although much would depend on when Iranian supplies arrive.

On potatoes, he said the halt in shipments to Iran and Afghanistan had created an export problem and that the commodity had been available at Rs25 to Rs30 per kg in the wholesale market for the past month. He also said onion exports to Dubai had resumed in limited quantities. According to him, the Sindh onion crop has ended and supplies from Balochistan are now reaching Karachi.

Shahjehan said prices moved up further during Muharram, while the wholesale market also remained closed on Ashura and supplies from producing areas were slow. He said transporters had been unwilling to reduce fares after diesel and LPG prices fell, while retailers were charging consumers much more than wholesale rates.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed total vegetable exports in the first 11 months of FY26 dropped to 550,913 tonnes worth $152 million from 1.4 million tonnes worth $353 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Potatoes and onions account for the largest share of these exports.

LPG prices have fallen to Rs300 per kg from a peak of Rs480, while before the Middle East crisis they were at Rs260 to Rs280. Diesel was priced at Rs399 per litre on May 1 compared to the current Rs309.50.

Flour, pulses and edible oil

Weekly Sensitive Price Index data for the week ending July 2 showed that a 20kg wheat flour bag rose to Rs2,750 to Rs2,900 from Rs2,500 to Rs2,800 on June 18. Over the same period, the 10kg wheat bag climbed to Rs1,200 from Rs1,060, while fine flour increased to Rs153.11 per kg from Rs147.

In the first week of March, a 20kg flour bag was available at Rs2,200 to Rs2,500, a 10kg wheat bag at Rs990 and fine flour at Rs136 per kg. Karachi consumers were paying the highest wheat flour prices compared to other cities, despite administrative measures by the Sindh government aimed at controlling rates and curbing hoarding.

There was no notable reduction in the prices of pulses despite the decline in fuel costs. Rates for masoor, moong, mash and gram pulse have remained unchanged since the Middle East war at Rs220 to Rs300, Rs350 to Rs400, Rs410 to Rs500 and Rs220 to Rs280 per kg, respectively.

Cooking oil and ghee also showed a slight increase. The price of a five-litre cooking oil pack rose to Rs3,045 to Rs3,065 from the pre-war Rs2,970, a 2.5kg ghee pack increased to Rs1,565 from Rs1,515, and a one-litre cooking oil pouch rose to Rs610 from Rs590.