PRICES of some essential items on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets were quoted higher under the lead of pulses, followed by reports of holding back of stocks of the commodity by some stockists, market sources said.

Imported masoor and its pulse led the market advance after having remained unchanged for the last couple of weeks and rose between Rs100 and Rs500 per bag, they said.

The weakness of the rupee, they said, had made import very expensive and it was passed on to general consumers as was evident in the increase in prices of imported items, they added.

They said arrivals from upcountry markets were also affected due to strike of cargo haulers who were demanding higher fare in line with the increase in petroleum prices.

As there was a pressure on ready supplies of some essential items, prices of consumer items also went up under the lead of pulses, they said.

The supply chain from upcountry markets is expected to normalise in the next couple of days. In the meantime prices of essentials may escalate further.

Commercial traders, however, believe that prices will stay on higher side during the month of Ramazan as wholesalers and commercial houses seldom loose their grip on ready supplies despite resumption of steady arrivals from upcountry markets.

The floor brokers are still undecided about prices outlook of the new IRRI crop after the minimum export prices ban, imposed earlier to check fresh prices flare up, has been lifted.

The general thinking is that despite a bumper crop of about six million tones, prices of IRRI types may remain on higher side as leading exporters have signed fresh export deals with their trade partners, they said.

Indications are there that fine quality basmati, kernel and sela, may also increase sympathetically after the resumption of coarse varieties export, they added.

However, much will depend on how the official machinery manages to keep a check on speculative increase in prices of essential items.

Among other essential items, sugar prices also maintained its upward drive though the increase was modest.

However, prices of wheat were maintained at previous levels amid reports of steady release of the stock from official sources to check any undue rise in prices of the item during Ramazan.

Industrial raw materials did not show much change during the week as prices of both cereals and oilseeds were firmly held at last levels amid modest ready off-take.

Apart from masoor, other pulses were mostly held unchanged and remained at the last levels under the lead of gram whole and gram dal but urad was quoted higher by Rs125.

Among other essential items, sugar also came in for pre-Ramazan buying and was quoted higher by Rs100 per bag followed by gur, which rose between Rs100 and Rs200, while desi sugar was firmly held at the last level.

Rice sector ruled dormant as both exporters and commercial houses awaited the arrival of new crop from the Sindh rice belt. Prices of all varieties of rice were held unchanged barring IRRI-6, which was quoted higher by Rs100.

With a decline of Rs100 in bajra price, other cereals including jowar and maize were held unchanged at the last levels amid slow trading.

Oilseed sector, on the other hand, showed mixed trend. While cottonseed and rapeseed were held unchanged, castor seed rose by Rs100 but til suffered sharp decline and fell between Rs600 and Rs800 per 40 kg on slack demand by exporters and steady new crop arrivals.

After an early decline, cotton managed to finish at the last levels on late support from the textile sector amid active late week trading.

Oilcakes showed divergent trend whereas rape seed cakes fell by Rs30 to Rs45 and cottonseed cakes rose by Rs50.—M.A.