KARACHI: The outgoing Sweet Eid has left a bitter aftertaste for many garments, shoes and artificial-jewellery sellers, as inflation-bitten citizens tightened their purse strings because of significant price hikes across the board.

The traders have mostly blamed the rupee’s depreciation and the central bank’s curbs on imports for higher prices.

Kapra Market, commonly known as Kagzi Bazaar and located near Memon Masjid at M.A. Jinnah Road, lacked buyers due to high prices of unstitched fabric and shalwar kameez.

Yaqoob Bali, chairman of the Kagzi Bazar Old City Tajir Ittehad, said the price of gents’ blended shalwar kameez fabric arriving from Faisalabad had soared by half on an average over the past year, meaning the fabric selling for Rs400 per metre is now priced at Rs600.

The prices of cotton suits have jumped at least 60pc over the past year, and they are available at Rs100 to Rs1,000 per metre depending on the quality.

Women’s clothes now sell in the range of Rs1,200 to Rs5,000 per suit after a hike of 50pc in their prices.

Mr Bali estimated that around 30-40pc of men had not made shalwar kameez this Eid, whereas some of them had bought only one suit compared to two to three a year ago. He blamed many factors for the increase in prices, including the rupee’s devaluation, high transport costs due to rising fuel rates, surging power and gas bills, and higher prices of yarn, laces, embroidery and linen.

Sheikh Mohammad Feroz, president of the Society Saddar Cooperative Market Ltd, said this year’s Eid sales remained highly depressed due to a phenomenal jump in the prices of shalwar kameez made of both imported and locally made fabrics.

Sales of children’s shalwar kameez shrank to 60 per cent while those of gents’ suits remained 40pc as compared to last year’s Eid, he said, adding that many traders could only sell half of their shalwar kameez stock, which had dented the profits. He said the landed price of Chinese fabric had doubled to Rs400 per metre over the past year due to the rupee’s fall.

The price of the local fabric, mostly coming from Faisalabad, had also hit Rs280 per metre, much higher than last year, he said, adding that plain cotton shalwar kameez were sold at Rs2,500 apiece while embroidered ones were available at Rs3,500-4,000.

The secretary general of the All-City Tajir Ittehad (ACTI), Mohammad Ahmed Shamsi, said the presence of imported items relating to Eidul Fitr had remained dismal this year due to the central bank’s decision to curb the inflow of finished imported items, unpredictable exchange rate and high import duties.

As a result, smuggling of confectionery, bakery, children-related items, shampoo, soaps, crockery, electronic, artificial jewellery, etc., continued to fill the demand-supply gap.

He said many importers had left their genuine import trade and had been waiting for the rupee’s stability, the government’s action to control the influx of smuggled goods, removal of high duties, taxes and restrictions on imports.

A dealer in children’s garments at North Nazimabad’s Hyderi Market said imported garments and shoes had become costlier by 40pc in the past year, whereas only 20pc imports were made due to high costs on account of the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar. “The sale of children’s garments and shoes have remained pegged at 40pc this year,” he said.

Syed Mohammad Saeed, president of the All Hyderi Business Traders and Welfare Association, said sales of kids’ imported garments, shoes, accessories, etc., remained low. At the same time, items produced by the local industries managed to bridge the demand and supply gap. However, a high cost of living had resulted in a drop of 30-40pc in sales of Eid-related items, he said.

The president of Tariq Road Traders Alliance, Ilyas Memon, said imports of children’s garments and shoes coming through legal channels had dropped 60-70pc this year, while some quantities continued to arrive from informal channels.

Though the local industry got its share of imported items, it could not fully utilise its potential due to people’s shrinking purchasing power.

Gold rises

Meanwhile, domestic gold prices hit another all-time high of Rs219,500 per tola and Rs188,186 per 10 grams on Saturday, showing an overnight jump of Rs686 and Rs800, respectively.

According to the All Sindh Saraf Jewellers Association, global gold prices went up by $6 per ounce to $1,990.

When the year began, the price of gold was Rs187,200 per tola and Rs160,494 per 10g on the domestic market and $1,824 per ounce on the global market.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2023