Tomato price near Rs400 as weekly inflation rises

ISLAMABAD: The government’s price control mechanism appears to have faltered amid soaring inflation, as the retail price of tomatoes in Islamabad has hit Rs380 per kilogram, ARY News reported on Friday.

Tomatoes are now being sold at Rs380 per kg in the federal capital, followed by Rs360 in Rawalpindi, Rs350 in Faisalabad, Rs340 in Lahore, and Rs320 in both Gujranwala and Sialkot.

The surge in tomato prices comes as weekly inflation—measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)—rose by 0.56% for the combined consumption group during the week ending October 2, 2025, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The SPI was recorded at 332.17 points, up from 330.32 the previous week. On a year-on-year basis, the index has increased by 4.07%.

Based on the 2015–16 base year, the SPI tracks the prices of 51 essential items across 17 urban centres, monitoring inflation trends for different income groups.

For the lowest income group (earning up to Rs17,732 per month), inflation rose by 0.82%, reaching 325.43 points from 322.77 a week earlier. Increases were also observed across other income brackets.

The SPI for consumption groups of Rs17,733–22,888; Rs22,889–29,517; Rs29,518–44,175 and above Rs44,175 increased by 0.76 percent, 0.61 percent, 0.57 percent, and 0.49 percent, respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 19 (37.25%) items increased, 12 (23.53%) items decreased and 20 (39.22%) items remained stable.

The commodities which recorded major decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included chicken (7.96%), bananas (0.78%), pulse gram (0.67%), gur (0.59%), potatoes (0.43%), LPG (0.42%), eggs (0.41%), cooking oil 5 litre (0.30%) and pulse moong (0.29%).

The items which recorded major increase in their average prices on a week-on-week basis tomatoes (46.44%), petrol (1.72%), diesel (1.45%), garlic (1.41%), onions (1.22%), chilies powder (0.72%), mutton (0.59%), beef (0.41%), vegetable ghee 1kg (0.22%), curd (0.19%) lawn printed (0.17%) and cigarettes (0.07%)

On year-on-year basis, the commodities which recorded decrease in their average prices included onions (44.93%), chicken (31.08%), garlic (28.69%), electricity charges for Q1 (26.26%), pulse gram (24.24%), pulse mash (19.11%), tea packet (17.93%), potatoes (17.50%), pulse masoor (4.10%) and LPG (1.33%).

On year-on-year basis, the commodities that witnessed an increase in prices included tomatoes (89.81%), ladies sandal (55.62%), sugar (33.73%), gas charges for q1 (29.85%), pulse moong (15.27%), wheat flour (13.37%), diesel (12.57%), beef (12.48%), gur (12.15%), firewood (11.22%), vegetable ghee 1 kg (11.06%) and vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (10.97%).