KARACHI, Oct 30: Prices of three essential kitchen items – onion, potato and tomato – registered a spike against pre-Eid and pre-Ramazan prices.

During the past three days, onions were selling at Rs35, potato at Rs23 and tomatoes at Rs35 per kg against the pre-Eid price of Rs20, Rs18 and Rs30 per kg, respectively.

In some well-to-do areas, retailers were seen charging Rs60 a kilo for tomato while onion was being sold at Rs40 per kg. On October 1, onion, potato and tomato were priced at Rs18, Rs30 and Rs18 per kg, respectively.

A leading vegetable wholesale dealer, Haji Shahjehan, linked the price hike in onion to crop damage in Sindh, saying that almost 60 per cent of the crop had been damaged because of the recent heavy rains, adding that the reduced output had been coupled with limited and costlier imports from India, Afghanistan and Iran to meet the local demand.

About 40,000-50,000 tons of onion had been imported from these countries during the past month at a price ranging between $150-300 per ton while the same quantity would hit the markets during the next month, he said.

He said onion rates in the wholesale market had peaked between Rs1,200-Rs1,300 per 40 kg just ahead of the Eid, which had now plunged to Rs800-900 per 40 kg. Consumers had paid up to Rs50 per kg at retail stage a few days ago. However, despite a drop in prices – retailers were still charging between Rs35-40 per kg after lifting it at reduced rates from the Subzi Mandi.

Haji Shahjehan said that the price of onion imported from India ranged between Rs18-20 per kg, adding that the Indian onion was being lifted from reserves stocks while the onion from Afghanistan and Iran was fresh. The high-quality Iranian was priced at Rs25 per kg in the Subzi Mandi, he said. He recalled that Pakistan had imported 70,000-80,000 tons of onion from India during the past year.

He said that the import onion was not according to the domestic demand, which ranged between 8,000-10,000 tons per day.

Referring to the potato crop, he said that the arrival of potato from Punjab’s cold storages was bottoming out as the new crop would hit the market by January/December. In the Subzi Mandi, potato was selling between Rs18-20 per kg. He said that tomato crop had also been substantially damaged in Sindh, adding that its fresh crop would arrive in the market by November 15. Its price was affected by the dwindling supply from Balochistan. Tomato is selling at Rs20 per kg but retailers were still charging higher rates.

In the meantime, the city government could not re-start its planned price checking campaign from Monday. Additional Executive District Officer Revenue and Head of the price checking campaign, Matanat Ali Khan, said that he would hold a meeting with the new EDO (Enterprise and Investment Promotion), Hassan Naqvi, who had replaced Syed Abid Ali Shah a few days ago, before initiating the campaign in an effective way. He hoped that the Ramazan prices would be maintained during the campaign, he added.

On Monday, members of the Karachi Wholesale Grocers’ Association (KWGA) held a meeting to discuss the city government’s plans to check local market prices. The KWGA had sent several letters to the Sindh governor, chief minister and the city nazim, seeking more time.

Adviser to KWGA Anes Majeed said that wholesalers were worried about the city government’s post-Ramazan price checking campaign.

He claimed that members of the association had sold essential items at official rates to avoid any confrontation with the government during Ramazan but they could no longer do it. “Traders will not accept the continuation of price checking after Ramazan and they will stage a strike if they are forced,” he said.

He said that the city government should leave the determination of prices of pulses in the open market according to the mechanism of demand and supply, adding that ample supplies automatically reduced the rates. “We can sell pulses at cheap rates only if the government ensures its supply at reduced rates as pulses are not produced in or near Karachi,” he said.

Meanwhile, retailers said that some wholesalers avoided giving out rates for future trading of pulses to the retailers on Monday, adding that many wholesalers were quoting different rates.