KARACHI: The prices of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and other vegetables have started creeping up ahead of the start of Ramazan, after hitting rare seasonal lows, thanks to a winter production glut, while prices of flour varieties and fruits have risen.
As the holy month will get underway from the third week of this month, fruit vendors have already started charging higher rates for the most sought-after items like banana, apple and guava. In the flour industry, retailers blame millers for raising rates, while flour millers flatly reject the claim.
As the new Sindh wheat crop will arrive in March, a random market survey ahead of the holy month reveals a price hike in a 20 kg bag of wheat flour to Rs2,500-2,700 from Rs2,400-2,600 two weeks back, followed by a Rs141 per kg increase in fine flour, up from Rs133 per kg.
The Sensitive Price Index ending Feb 4 revealed a slight jump in the price of a 10kg bag of wheat to Rs1,100 from Rs1,050 two weeks back.
Vegetable, fruit and flour prices rise ahead of holy month
Roti makers also complained about a price hike of Rs450 per 50 kg in the fine flour bag, from Rs6,000 to Rs6,450, which may result in a price jump in Roti varieties if the fine flour bag crosses Rs7,000 per 50 kg.
Currently, roti makers have kept the rates of various roti varieties unchanged. Consumers believe that some tandoor operators have reduced the weight of roti varieties while keeping prices unchanged. Naan and Chappati are available at Rs25 and Rs15 per piece, respectively.
Disagreeing over the price rise in flour, Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), Sindh Zone, Chairman Abdul Junaid Aziz said that the 100kg wheat bag rate has declined to Rs10,900 from Rs11,600. As a result, the ex-mill rate of flour No.2.5 and fine is Rs104 and Rs114 from December 2025.
“There is no price increase or any shortage of wheat or flour varieties in the markets,” he said, claiming that the Association mainly focuses on flour No 2.5 instead of the commercially popular fine and maida (super fine flour) rates.
The Sindh government in December 2025 reduced the wheat issue price to Rs8,000 per 100 kg bag from Rs9,500 to stabilise prices for the consumers and provide grain to the millers and traders.
“Millers are lifting wheat from the open market at the rate of Rs11,600 per 100 kg bag for blending with the government’s wheat of the 2022-2024 crop,” Junaid said, showing some concerns over the government’s wheat quality, as a lack of gluten usually results in low protein and also creates problems in making a soft roti. As a result, millers procure new wheat crops from the open market for blending with old wheat to maintain quality.
On high rates of branded flour, he said the association cannot control the rates charged by branded flour makers, which are very few in number, and that their market share is only 5 per cent.
