Tomato at Rs 500, Onion Rs 300 Per Kg in Lahore. Pakistan Floods Send Vegetable Prices Soaring

The shopkeepers blame staggeringly high prices on market forces, saying they have been buying vegetables at high rates from the wholesale market.

Written by: India.com News Desk Edited by: Priyanka

Published: August 28, 2022, 8:21 PM IST

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कच्चा या पका, खुब खाएं टमाटर

Lahore: In the wake of nationwide floods causing massive damage to crops, the prices of vegetables have sky-rocketed in Pakistan’s Lahore with tomatoes costing as much as Rs 500 per kilogram (in Pakistani rupee), the media reported. Shopkeepers have set arbitrary prices after the supply chain was disrupted by floods, reported Samaa TV. Onion is being sold at Rs 300 per kg and lemon at Rs 400 per kg.

The price for tomatoes is at least six-fold higher than the government rate of Rs 80 per kg while the onion is being sold at five times the official rate of Rs 61 per kg, Samaa TV stated. The prices of ginger and garlic have also gone up. “Now the poor man can only gaze at tomatoes and not buy them,” a buyer told Samaa TV. “Onion which was never sold above Rs 100 a kg, is now being sold at Rs 250 or even Rs 300,” he added.

The shopkeepers blame staggeringly high prices on market forces, saying they have been buying vegetables at high rates from the wholesale market.

Here are 5 points for this big story on damages caused by Pakistan floods:

1. As flash floods and overflowing rivers wreak havoc across Pakistan, preliminary estimates show that the country has already suffered damages worth $5.5 billion, Samaa TV reported.
2. In Sindh and Punjab provinces sugarcane and cotton crops have been destroyed completely while onion, tomato, and Kharif chillies have been partially damaged.
3. The loss of cotton crops alone has been estimated at $2.6 billion. Experts believe Pakistan’s textile and sugar export could drop by $1 billion.
4. At least 2 million tonnes of wheat stored at the government’s warehouses in Sindh have been spoiled due to rains and floods, threatening the country’s food security, Samaa TV reported.
5. The destruction in the agriculture sector means that Pakistan will not only encounter a supply shortage for industries but there could also be a seed crisis in the country.

(With IANS inputs)