Like the rest of the country, the price of sugar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also gone up, with an increase of Rs.25 per kg in a week.
In various districts of the province, including Peshawar and Mardan, the retail price of sugar has reached Rs 130 per kg, compared to Rs105 a week ago.
According to dealers, the price of wholesale sugar is up to Rs 120 per kg.
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Muhammad Ibrahim, a businessman from Mardan, said that in the last few days, the price of a 50 kg sack of sugar had increased by Rs.1000. Yesterday, it had increased by Rs. 300 per sack to reach Rs. 6200 in a single day, but in the evening it became cheaper by Rs. 200, he added.
With the increase in prices, retail sugar in the market is available at Rs 125-130 per kg, while prices in rural areas have also increased.
According to Ibrahim, there were various factors behind the recent increase in prices, one being the end of the crushing season in the mills which has led to the increase in prices. Another reason is the artificial scarcity of sugar created by some dealers for making illegal profits. One reason could also be the illegal smuggling of sugar into Afghanistan, where smugglers always find a good market.
With the increase in market prices, people swarmed utility stores to buy cheap sugar, but an employee of a utility store in Peshawar said that they too had seen less supply and higher demand.
