LAHORE: Lahore households faced a broadly costlier bazaar on Wednesday, with poultry, staples and cooking fuel all under pressure and bullion holding near record territory.
Onions climbed Rs30 a kilogram overnight and silver added Rs335 a tola as Lahore households faced a broadly costlier bazaar on Wednesday, with poultry, staples and cooking fuel all under pressure and gold holding near record territory.
Meat, poultry and eggs
Live broiler chicken was notified at Rs329 per kilogram, down Rs9 from Tuesday, while broiler meat rose Rs7 to Rs497. Farm eggs held at Rs241 per dozen for a second day. Mutton was unchanged at Rs1,600 per kilogram and beef at Rs800.
The two poultry lines moving in opposite directions widened the spread between live bird and dressed meat from Rs152 on Tuesday to Rs168 on Wednesday. That gap is the margin retail chicken shops across Township, Samanabad and Shadman operate within, and it is the figure that most often draws price-control scrutiny when it stretches.
Vegetables
Onions were quoted at Rs225 per kilogram against Rs195 on Tuesday, a 15 per cent rise in a single session and the day’s sharpest move on the vegetable sheet. Desi garlic rose Rs35 to Rs195 while Chinese garlic held at Rs275, narrowing a spread that had stood at Rs115 a day earlier and blunting the price advantage that had been pushing buyers towards local stock. Capsicum eased Rs10 to Rs260.
Cucumber and lemon were each listed at Rs190, okra held at Rs160, and imported Thai ginger remained among the costliest items on the sheet at Rs330 per kilogram.
Fruit
The sheet marked a seasonal turn on Wednesday. Anwar Ratol mango, notified at Rs340 a kilogram on Tuesday, dropped off the list as the season closed, while new desi pomegranate entered at Rs290. Gacha special apples jumped Rs80 to Rs330, the largest single move on the fruit list. Papaya eased Rs10 to Rs290, while first-grade guava at Rs190, peaches at Rs250 and bananas at Rs200 per dozen were unchanged.
| Item | Unit | Rate | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mutton | per kg | Rs1,600 | — |
| Beef | per kg | Rs800 | — |
| Broiler (live) | per kg | Rs329 | ▼ Rs9 |
| Broiler meat | per kg | Rs497 | ▲ Rs7 |
| Farm eggs | per dozen | Rs241 | — |
| Onion | per kg | Rs225 | ▲ Rs30 |
| Capsicum | per kg | Rs260 | ▼ Rs10 |
| Garlic (China) | per kg | Rs275 | — |
| Garlic (desi) | per kg | Rs195 | ▲ Rs35 |
| Okra | per kg | Rs160 | — |
| Cucumber | per kg | Rs190 | — |
| Lemon | per kg | Rs190 | ▲ Rs5 |
| Ginger (Thailand) | per kg | Rs330 | — |
| Guava (first grade) | per kg | Rs190 | — |
| Peach | per kg | Rs250 | — |
| Papaya | per kg | Rs290 | ▼ Rs10 |
| Pomegranate (new desi) | per kg | Rs290 | new |
| Apple (Gacha special) | per kg | Rs330 | ▲ Rs80 |
| Banana | per dozen | Rs200 | — |
Gold, silver and currency
In the Lahore bullion market, 24-karat gold was quoted at Rs464,336 per tola, down Rs664 from Tuesday’s close, and Rs398,950 per 10 grams. The 22-karat rate held at Rs426,368 per tola and Rs365,717 per 10 grams. Tezabi silver was quoted at Rs7,129 per tola and Rs6,111 per 10 grams, a rise of Rs335 a tola in a single session.
Those levels leave gold well above where it began the year and reflect the twin drivers that govern Pakistani bullion: the international spot price and the rupee’s exchange rate. On Wednesday the US dollar was quoted in the open market at Rs278.00 buying and Rs278.50 selling, four paisa firmer on the buying side than Tuesday. The Saudi riyal was at Rs73.95 and Rs74.65 and the UAE dirham at Rs76.15 and Rs77.15 — the two remittance currencies that matter most to Lahore’s overseas-worker families.
For the jewellers of Anarkali, Liberty and the Sarafa Bazaar, rates at this level continue to suppress volume in wedding-season gold, pushing buyers towards lighter 21-karat pieces and gold-plated alternatives.
Cooking fuel
LPG was reported selling at up to Rs100 per kilogram above the official price in parts of the city. The federally notified consumer rate for September is Rs258.65 per kilogram, with an 11.8-kilogram domestic cylinder set at Rs3,052.09 after OGRA raised the rate by Rs4.33 a kilogram, or Rs51.17 on the cylinder, from September 1.
The monthly notifications have run in one direction all summer. The same cylinder was priced at Rs2,848.91 in July and Rs3,000.92 in August, meaning the official household cost has risen by more than Rs200 in two months before any overcharging is counted. In the katchi abadis and the peri-urban belt where piped gas coverage is thin, a Rs100-per-kilogram markup adds close to Rs1,180 to a single cylinder, and it lands on the households least able to absorb it.
The rates above are the official list. Consumer complaints on Wednesday centred on the familiar Lahore problem of that list being ignored, with fruit and vegetables changing hands at arbitrary prices in neighbourhood markets, well above notified rates.
Enforcement rests with price-control magistrates working under the district administration, who can fine or seal shops selling above the notified rate. But with thousands of retail points across the district and a rate list that changes daily, inspection can only ever cover a fraction of the market. The Model and Sahulat Bazaars remain the one reliable point of contact between the notified sheet and the shopping bag, and they serve a small share of the city’s demand.
Prices of ghee, cooking oil, rice and flour also registered increases.
A kilo of onions now costs almost as much as a dozen eggs, a reversal from Tuesday, when eggs were comfortably the dearer of the two. A kilo of mutton still buys a little over three kilos of broiler meat. With the mango season now closed and winter vegetables still weeks away, Lahore has entered the tightest stretch of the year for produce — and the period when the distance between the notified rate and the counter rate tends to widen fastest.
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