KARACHI: Despite a steady decline in the prices of transport fuels such as diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), consumers continued to take costly rides, paying higher prices for essential edible items.
For example, the price of tomatoes has been hovering between Rs300 and Rs400 per kg for the last 10 days, while in the third week of June, tomatoes were selling at Rs120-160 per kg. The red fruit was priced Rs80-100 per kg a month back.
Onion rates rose by Rs20 per kg to Rs100-120 per kg from Rs80-100 per kg in the last one month. Potato rates, however, remained unchanged at Rs40-80 per kg over the last month, depending on size and quality, due to negligible exports to Afghanistan and Iran.
Younus Soomro, a tomato grower, said there is a shortage these days, as only Balochistan-grown crops are arriving and cannot meet the entire country’s demand.
Despite Rs90 drop in diesel and 37pc fall in LPG, tomatoes hit Rs400, flour Rs147 per kg, cooking oil gets costlier while pulses stay unchanged
