Lahore Market Rate List for Friday, 4 Sept 2026

LAHORE: Chicken got cheaper for the first time this week and onions fell a further Rs15 on Friday, but okra, brinjal and bitter gourd all pushed higher on a vegetable sheet that is still refusing to settle.

The daily notification issued by the Market Committee, Lahore, under the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Department, cut every line on the poultry column by Rs10 or more while leaving eggs untouched for a fourth consecutive day. On the fruit list, Anwar Ratol dropped off the sheet again after a one-day return, and persimmon appeared for the first time this season, the earliest sign of the winter fruit rotation.

Meat, poultry and eggs

Live broiler chicken was notified at Rs319 per kilogram in the wholesale market against Rs329 on Thursday, the first movement in the poultry column in three sessions. The farm gate rate fell to Rs305 from Rs315 and the retail rate for live birds to Rs333 from Rs343.

Broiler meat was the biggest mover, notified at Rs483 per kilogram for the retail counter against Rs497 a day earlier, a drop of Rs14. That is the lowest notified meat rate of the week and it comes as supply from the Kasur and Sheikhupura belts has improved after a fortnight of heat-related losses in the sheds.

Farm eggs were unchanged at Rs241 per dozen for a fourth straight day, with the wholesale crate again quoted at Rs7,110.

The notification repeats its standard rider on weight: broiler meat will not include the beak or the undressed gizzard, while cleaned liver and gizzard may be counted in the weight. It reads like a technicality, but it is the clause most often disputed at the scale between shopkeepers and inspectors.

Mutton and beef were unchanged at Rs1,600 and Rs800 per kilogram respectively.

Vegetables

Onions were quoted at Rs190 per kilogram against Rs205 on Thursday, a second consecutive fall that has taken Rs35 off the rate since Wednesday’s spike to Rs225. Local tomato eased Rs5 to Rs145. Kabul and Iranian tomato were both left blank again, unavailable in the wholesale market.

Desi garlic held at Rs155 for a second day after Thursday’s Rs40 drop, while Harnai garlic slipped Rs10 to Rs280. Chinese garlic was not quoted for a third consecutive session. Thai ginger stayed at Rs330 and Chinese ginger eased Rs5 to Rs320, keeping imported ginger the dearest pair on the vegetable column after capsicum.

The rises came in the summer gourds and their neighbours. Okra climbed Rs10 to Rs210, its second increase in as many days and now Rs50 above Wednesday’s rate. Brinjal rose Rs10 to Rs100 and bitter gourd Rs10 to Rs140. Cabbage went the other way, down Rs10 to Rs130.

Capsicum was steady at Rs250 and fenugreek at Rs290. Desi lemon eased Rs5 to Rs155 and Chinese lemon Rs5 to Rs90.

At the cheaper end, pumpkin was again the lowest item on the sheet at Rs25 a kilogram, followed by sugar-free potato at Rs32, farm spinach at Rs70, ridge gourd and arvi at Rs80 and farm cucumber at Rs90. New potato with raw skin, desi cucumber, turnip, desi carrot, radish, qulfa and mazoo were all left unquoted.

Fruit

The mango column thinned again. Anwar Ratol, which had returned on Thursday at Rs330 after the season was written off, was not quoted on Friday. Chaunsa late held at Rs305 per kilogram, Ratth rose Rs10 to Rs285 and black Chaunsa was unchanged at Rs250. Fajri, Chaunsa Moosi, white Chaunsa and raw mango were all blank, leaving three varieties on a list that carried nine in the first week of August.

Persimmon, listed on the sheet as Japanese fruit, was notified at Rs200 per kilogram in its first appearance of the season. Corn cobs from Lakki were quoted at Rs26 each. Both are early markers of the September changeover, which usually runs until the first hill apples and citrus arrive in volume.

Sundar Khani grapes remained the costliest listed item at Rs595 a kilogram, ahead of coconut at Rs475 each and Irani dates at Rs445. Gacha special apple rose Rs10 to Rs340 and hill Kala Kulu apple Rs10 to Rs250. Special peach held at Rs315, while first-grade peach was left unquoted.

Papaya eased Rs10 to Rs280 and sweet potato Rs5 to Rs80. New desi pomegranate was steady at Rs290, guava at Rs190, pear at Rs310, cheeku at Rs200 and garma at Rs185. Bananas were unchanged at Rs200 per dozen for the top grade and Rs140 for the second.

Official rate list, Friday 4 September 2026

Rates below are per kilogram unless stated otherwise, as notified by the Market Committee, Lahore. Grade A is the awwal column on the official sheet and Grade B the doim. A dash means the item was not quoted.

Meat, poultry and eggs

Vegetables

Fruit

Milk and yogurt

Loose milk and yogurt do not appear on the daily Market Committee sheet. Both are covered by a standing maximum retail price fixed by the Deputy Commissioner under the Punjab Foodstuffs (Control) Act, which is revised occasionally rather than rewritten every morning.

That price remains Rs170 per litre for loose milk and Rs190 per kilogram for yogurt. Neither has been widely available at those rates. Milk continued to sell at between Rs200 and Rs230 a litre across most of the city on Friday, and yogurt at Rs240 to Rs280 a kilogram, gaps of Rs60 and Rs90 respectively at the top end.

The reason is structural rather than administrative. More than 90 per cent of Pakistan’s milk moves through an informal chain of small producers, village collectors, dodhis and neighbourhood shops, with almost no cold-chain infrastructure and no documented cost of production. A notified retail price set without reference to the farmgate rate and the collector’s margin leaves the shopkeeper at the end of the chain unable to meet it, which is why milk is the one item where the notified figure and the counter figure have not converged in years.

Gold, silver and currency

The All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association took 24-karat gold up Rs11,200 to Rs465,236 per tola in Thursday’s session, more than reversing Wednesday’s Rs11,300 fall, with the 10-gram rate rising Rs9,602 to Rs398,864. At that level the 22-karat rate works out at about Rs426,466 per tola and 21-karat at about Rs407,081.

The move followed the international market, where gold gained $112 to $4,427 an ounce with a $20 local premium. Silver added Rs185 to Rs7,044 per tola.

In the open currency market the US dollar was quoted at Rs277.60 buying and Rs278.55 selling. The Saudi riyal was at Rs73.95 and Rs74.65 and the UAE dirham at Rs75.65 and Rs76.50, the two rates Lahore families living on remittances watch most closely.

For jewellers in Anarkali, Liberty and Sarafa Bazaar, a swing of Rs22,500 across two sessions is the kind of volatility that keeps buyers on the sidelines. Wedding-season demand has been shifting towards lighter 21-karat sets and gold-plated pieces for months, and a week like this one does nothing to reverse it.

Cooking fuel

The federally notified LPG consumer rate for September stands at Rs258.65 per kilogram, with an 11.8-kilogram domestic cylinder priced at Rs3,052.09 after OGRA raised the rate by Rs4.33 a kilogram from September 1. The same cylinder cost Rs2,848.91 in July and Rs3,000.92 in August. Complaints of sales above the notified price continue to come in from the peri-urban belt, where piped gas coverage is thin and the cylinder is the only option.

On the ground

The figures above are the notified list, not what most households paid. In Township, Samanabad, Shadman and the katchi abadis, the familiar gap held, with fruit and vegetables changing hands well above the sheet and shopkeepers pointing to transport and wastage costs. Onion at Rs190 on paper was being asked for at Rs250 and above in several retail markets, and the Rs10 cut in live chicken had not reached the shop counters by mid-morning.

Enforcement rests with price-control magistrates working under the district administration, who can fine or seal a shop selling above the notified rate. With thousands of retail points across the district and a list rewritten every morning, inspection reaches only a fraction of them. Complaints can be registered on the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Department helpline, 0800-02345, and the department has repeated that a rate list without an official stamp is not valid.

With mango down to three varieties, persimmon on the sheet for the first time and the summer gourds still moving in both directions, the produce column is likely to stay unsettled for the rest of September.