Sugar price shoots up in Pakistan, costs more than petrol

Sources say that sugar dealers have increased the price by creating artificial shortage to make illegal profits.

Image credit: Reuters

Islamabad: The prices of sugar in Pakistan zoomed past the prices of petrol on Thursday (November 4). Despite the government`s assurances of working to curb the prices of essential items in the country, sugar is being sold as high as Rs 150 per kg in different cities while petrol is currently being sold at Rs 138.30 per litre in the country, reported Geo News.

In the wholesale market of Peshawar, the price of sugar has increased by Rs 8 per kg. The president of the Sugar Dealers Association said that sugar is being sold at a wholesale rate of Rs 140 per kg while the retail price has gone up from Rs 145 to Rs 150 per kg, reported Geo News.

Meanwhile, in Lahore, the price of sugar in the wholesale market was Rs 126 per kg yesterday and sources said that sugar dealers have increased the price by creating artificial shortage to make illegal profits.

In Karachi, the ex-mill price of sugar has now reached the highest level in history at Rs 142 per kg, an increase of Rs 12 from a day earlier. A similar situation is being witnessed in Quetta, where the price of sugar has gone up from Rs 124 to Rs 129 per kg, reported Geo News.

This comes after Imran Khan on Wednesday announced "country`s biggest-ever" subsidy package worth Rs 120 billion, providing 30 per cent discount on ghee, flour and pulses to support 130 million people by ebbing away from the impact of inflation.