Prices of kitchen items remain firm in open market

Business Recorder's weekly market survey in Peshawar on Sunday found mixed price movements across key kitchen items. Live chicken and meat eased by Rs15 per kilogramme to Rs375, while a 20-kg flour bag rose to Rs3200 at wholesale from Rs3000. Traders linked the flour increase to constant curbs on wheat and flour shipments from Punjab into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Onion prices hit a fresh high, between Rs180 and Rs200 per kilogramme against Rs80 to Rs100 earlier, after an unprecedented jump in tomato prices in the capital. Tomatoes were priced at Rs400 per kilogramme against Rs350 earlier, while cooking oil and ghee prices kept rising across brands. The survey also put good quality sela rice at Rs360 per kilogramme and recorded pulses as unchanged in retail.

Cow meat was sold at Rs1350 per kilogramme in the open market, well above the official rate of Rs900 announced by local authorities. Apples were priced between Rs400 and Rs500 per kilogramme, bananas at Rs200 per dozen and leechi at Rs1000 per kilogram. LPG prices also stayed high, the survey said.