Karachi / Lahore / Rawalpindi:
Despite repeated government repression, severe warnings and prices controls, the sugar crisis has deepened in large cities, leaving consumers nationally for essential sweeteners.
From Karachi to Rawalpindi and Lahore, the retail prices soaring to Rs205 per kg, while the traders, fearing fines and raids, began to refuse sugar sales to unknown customers.
A worsening of the sugar crisis continues to seize Punjab, prices up to Rs205 per kg and a serious shortage reported in the main urban centers, including Rawalpindi and Lahore.
In Rawalpindi and Islamabad, traders have ceased to sell sugar to customers without an appointment or due to the fear of heavy fines, store closures and local authorities.
According to the Kiryana Merchants Association, the old price existing by the government of RS165 per kg has still not been implemented on the free market, where sugar continues to be sold at Rs200 per kg.
Meanwhile, retailers complain of being taken between the rise in wholesale prices and the aggressive repression of the district administration. “We have not yet received sugar at the official RS165 rate per kg,” said a spokesperson for the Kiryana association, adding that only 1,800 bags of sugar were provided to the dealerships during last week, well below the request.
The district administration said that in the last 24 hours only, 121 traders have been sentenced to a fine for over -designing, with penalties totaling RS350,000. Eight stores were sealed and five traders were arrested.
Meanwhile, in Lahore and other parts of Punjab, sugar prices jumped far beyond the official RS173 rate per kg. In many regions, sugar is now sold between RS200 and RS205 per kg.
The owners of factories, sugar dealers and retailers point to each other on prices and hoarding, even if the three seem to benefit, while ordinary consumers rush to find sugar at official rates.