Sugar prices shoot up to Rs150 per kilo

ISLAMABAD: Sugar prices spiked to a record high of up to Rs160 per kilo in retail markets in different parts of Pakistan amid ‘rising inflation’, ARY News reported on Friday.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported that the sugar prices at retail level have surged to Rs150 in different parts of the country – such as Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, the sweetener in Lahore and Quetta was available at Rs145 per kilo and Rs142 per kilo, respectively.

The bureau further stated that the commodity’s price in Gujranwala, Sialkot, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan and Bannu is settled at Rs140, while its price in Hyderabad has reached Rs138 per kilo.

A day earlier, it was reported that the weekly inflation, measured by Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), increased by 0.33 pc on a year-on-year basis for the week ending on July 13.

The short-term inflation rose by an all-time high of 48.35pc for the period that ended on May 4.

The SPI for the week under review in the above-mentioned group was recorded at 258.63 points as compared to 257.79 points during the past week, according to the PBS data.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 21 (41.17%) items increased, 11 (21.58%) items decreased and 19 (37.25%) items remained stable.

The items that recorded an increase in their average prices on a week-on-week (wow) basis, included sugar (5.22%), wheat flour (4.23%), gur (3.68%), salt powdered (2.17%) and eggs (1.34%).