Ghee, cooking oil prices hiked up to Rs30 per kg

LAHORE: The ghee mill owners have jacked up the prices of cooking oil and ghee from Rs18 to Rs30 per kilogram besides reducing its supplies, ARY News reported on Thursday.

No respite has seen in the prices of essential commodities as edible oil and ghee rates were increased by Rs30 per kilogram.

Sources said that the ghee supply to the state-owned utility stores was also closed as the supplies will be resumed following the new prices.

The manufacturers claimed that cooking oil and ghee prices were jacked up after the government imposed three per cent additional sales tax.

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The price of executive grade edible oil was increased from Rs310 per kilogram to Rs328 per kg while the rate of grade two cooking oil was the hike from Rs290 per kg to Rs320 per kg.

In June, Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) had threatened to shut ghee factories across the country to protest against the tax exemption given to FATA and PATA industries by the federal government.

It had been predicted that a crisis of cooking oil and ghee is likely to hit the country as the ghee mill owners threatened to close factories for the acceptance of demands.

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Former PVMA chairman Sheikh Amjad Rasheed had said that it is impossible to run the ghee mills after the provision of tax exemption to FATA and PATA industries by the federal government.

Ex-President PVMA Sheikh Umar Rehan had claimed that the new budget became a disaster for the ghee and oil industry instead of a relief.

Rehan had claimed that the decision will cause a financial loss worth Rs160 million by the imports of edible oil, whereas, the tax exemption to FATA and PATA industries will result in the closure of local industries and unemployment of millions of labourers.

He also announced that the ghee mill owners will move to the court besides taking every legal measure against the decision.