KARACHI, April 29: Retail prices of rice and some varieties of pulses are set to hit a new peak following an increase in their wholesale prices on Monday as compared to last week.

Consumers are perturbed over frequent increase in the price of rice and deterioration in its quality.

According to market sources, better quality rice has been exported because of surge in prices in the international market.

“The government is pre-occupied with the issue of judges and it is not handling the core issue of food inflation which has directly affected the masses,” said an analyst.

Markets were abuzz with reports that the government was either considering a ban on export of rice or it may slap some regulatory duty on its export to control prices, but so far nothing serious had been done to control the price of rice.

According to daily market rates issued by the wholesale commodity market, basmati kernel price touched Rs60-70 per kg from Rs45-65 per kg last week. Basmati-386 prices hit Rs40-48 from Rs38-44 per kg while Basmati-385 Saila price increased to Rs40-46 per kg from Rs35-42 per kg.

Basmati Super prices surged to Rs55-65 from Rs40-55 per kg, followed by Irri-6 Sindh whose price increased to Rs34 from Rs28 per kg. Irri-9 Sindh price increased to Rs38-40 per kg from Rs35-36 per kg.

In pulses, the wholesale price of mash imported rose to Rs50-54 per kg from Rs44-48 per kg while gram white (kabli) price reached Rs45-55 from Rs42-48 per kg. Gram black price went up to Rs36-38 from Rs31-33 per kg.

In rice, retailers are already charging Rs90 per kg for Basmati kernel while its super quality is tagged at Rs100 per kg.

The medium quality rice is available at Rs50-60 per kg while low quality rice is selling between Rs 35 and 45 per kg.