LAHORE
Unavailability of transportation due to petrol shortage in the country has also affected the supply of vegetables to provincial capital of Punjab, lifting the rates sharply not only in open market but also in Sunday Bazaars.
The retail price of tomato has jumped to Rs100 per kg in open market while rate of this item in Sunday bazaar was enhanced to Rs70 per kg. Very thin attendance of buyers as well as sellers was seen in Sunday bazaars while many stalls were vacant.
Tomato was not available in most of makeshift markets while a single vendor at Shadman Sunday Bazaar was offering this commodity which was of very low grade at Rs70 per kg.
Despite low influx of buyers high trend in prices of fruits and vegetables was observed. Vendors said that owing to unavailability of transportation they could manage to bring limited supplies of fruits and vegetables this week, but the business activities were much lower than their expectations.
According to them, business remained also closed in Badamibagh Fruits and Vegetables Market and very limited auctions of vegetables were held in wholesale market. They said that limited supply of vegetables is coming from adjacent areas of the city while containers coming from remote areas have been stopped on the way to Lahore.
The price of onion was stable in Sunday bazaars, but its rate was increased to Rs50 per kg in open market.
Interestingly, this week Indian potato was available in several Sunday bazaars at official rate of Rs44 per kg. Rate of green chilli went up to Rs120 per kg, capsicum at Rs60 per kg, lemon at Rs125 per kg, mint Rs10 per small bundle and coriander at Rs20 per 250 grams and cucumber at Rs60 per kg. The prices of other seasonal vegetables were varied at different markets. However, most of the items were not available in almost all Sunday Bazaars and stalls were empty. Garlic (China) rate was gained and fixed at Rs138 per kg, garlic local fixed at Rs130 per kg. Ginger was high at Rs220 per kg, Ginger China came down to Rs275 per kg from Rs 300 per kg. Beef was sold at Rs250 per kg, mutton at Rs500 per kg, chicken at Rs206 per kg in Sunday Bazaars.
Vendors were optimistic of brisk business activity next week, saying the rate of most of the vegetable items would also be reduced due to abundant supply next week.

Rates of one-day chick causing meat price hike

app
lahore
Upward trend of prices of one-day chick has caused price hike in white meat which will further make poultry meat expensive.
This was stated by Chairman Pakistan Broilers Association (PBA) Rana Abdul Sattar while talking to APP here on Sunday. Responding a question about the sudden raise in prices of one-day chick from Rs.25 to Rs.60, he said that chick was being exported and some big dealers had their monopoly on hatcheries and fixed rates at their own will. He said that the total cost of a one-day chick was just Rs.20 while it was being sold at Rs.60.
He expressed fear that if the steps were not taken to fix the prices of one-day chick, the prices of white meat would go out of the reach of the common man like mutton and red meat. When contacted, leader of Poultry Farmers Association (PFA), Chaudhary Ghulam Mustafa Ravi, endorsed the facts that monopoly of some dealers of feed and one-day chick had created the situation.  He urged the livestock department to control the situation and take some steps to control high prices of chicks and white meat.