Sugar prices increase further in city

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Retail price reaches Rs 84 per kilogramme

* Citizens say Utility Stores’ ‘powder sugar’ is less sweet

By Shabbir Sarwar

LAHORE: With a further increase of Rs 4, sugar is being sold for Rs 84 per kilogramme in the city markets, increasing burden on the kitchen budget of the citizens. Utility Stores were selling the commodity at a subsidised rate of Rs 55. However, the imported ‘powder sugar’ failed to cater to the taste of Lahoris, Daily Times learnt on Wednesday.

Last week, sugar was available for Rs 80 in the city markets, however, from Tuesday, most retailers in various areas, including Gulberg, Model Town, Ichra, Shahalam and in other parts of the city, were found selling sugar, on average, for Rs 84.

Citizens told Daily Times that shopkeepers had further increased the price of sugar although it was already very high. Ghulam Akbar, a father of four children, said, “This price is very high and all things, including sugar are getting beyond my reach.”

When asked why doesn’t he purchase sugar on the subsidised rate from a Utility Store, he said although the rate was Rs 55, but that sugar was in powder form and quite less sweet compared to cubic sugar. Another citizen, Afzaal Ahmed, said that instead of one teaspoon, three teaspoons of Utility Store’s sugar are needed to make a cup of tea sweet, which makes it more expensive than the cubic sugar.

Khurram Khan, a retailer in Gulberg, when asked why is was selling sugar on higher price, he said that the wholesale price of sugar had been increased this week, which triggered an increase in the retail price by Rs 2 to 4. He said that a 50-kg sugar bag’s price had been increased by Rs 260 in the last four days in the wholesale market.

Lahore zone Utility Stores Manager Faizan Hameed said that sugar was being sold at Rs 55 at all Utility Stores in Lahore and there was no shortage of sugar in the city. About the citizens’ complaints of less sweetness in the powder-form imported sugar, he said it was another type of sugar and it is sweet, adding that sugar is being imported from different countries, including Brazil, Dubai and Thailand to cater the different requirements of citizens.