Sugar crackdown sours as sweetener price stays high
From Karachi to Rawalpindi and Lahore, retail prices have skyrocketed as high as Rs205 per kg, while shopkeepers, fearing fines and raids, have begun refusing sugar sales to unfamiliar customers.
A worsening sugar crisis continues to grip Punjab, with prices climbing to as high as Rs205 per kg and a severe shortage reported across major urban centres, including Rawalpindi and Lahore.
In Rawalpindi and Islamabad, shopkeepers have stopped selling sugar to walk-in or new customers due to fear of heavy fines, shop closures and arrests by local authorities.
According to the Kiryana Merchants Association, the government-mandated ex-mill price of Rs165 per kg was still not being implemented in the open market, where sugar continues to be sold at Rs200 per kg.
Meanwhile, retailers complain they are caught between rising wholesale prices and aggressive crackdowns by the district administration. "We have yet to receive sugar at the official ex-mill rate of Rs165 per kg," a spokesperson for the Kiryana Association said, adding that only 1,800 sugar bags were supplied to dealers in the past week, far below demand.
The district administration reported that over the past 24 hours alone, 121 shopkeepers were fined for overpricing, with penalties totalling Rs350,000. Eight shops were sealed and five shopkeepers were arrested.
Meanwhile, in Lahore and other parts of Punjab, sugar prices have surged well beyond the official rate of Rs173 per kg. In many areas, sugar is now being sold between Rs200 and Rs205 per kg.
Mill owners, sugar dealers and retailers are pointing fingers at one another over soaring prices and hoarding, even as all three appear to be benefiting, while ordinary consumers scramble to find sugar at official rates.
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