Panic Buying Begins in Karachi
As the supply is starting to run low, the demand is rising high along with prices.
Many markets across Karachi are facing shortages in commodities, as people are beginning to panic buy staple goods. As the shortage is increasing, the prices are also increasing for the select few numbers of goods. One example of such goods is flour.
Panic Buying in Flour
Bake Parlor flours are barely 20% of their usual supply and is facing a price hike – Rs. 310-350 per five kg bag as compared to Rs. 270-280 before, and Rs. 600-620 per ten kg bag compared to Rs. 540-550 before. Another brand, Ashrafi flours, has been out of stock for about a week.
When asked, the millers stated that their factories have not been receiving wheat from the Sindh Government for the last 8 to 10 days. “We have been running our mills on new wheat crop which is available in open market at Rs. 3850 per 100 kg bag,” one of the millers stated.
The Chairman of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) claimed that they have been producing on their normal levels and the only reason the stores are out of stock is because of all the panic buying. “New wheat stock has already hit the markets while the grain from Passco is also arriving at the mills. Flour is available in abundance,” he further claimed.
Cooking Oil/Ghee Markets
Sheikh Amjad Rasheed, President IMGC Group and former chairman Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), said that he had to increase production at three of his mills as the demand has suddenly increased.
He stated that his Multan factory is producing 50 tonnes more than before coronavirus was spreading in Pakistan – this is a hike of 50% in the production. Same way, the Karachi and KPK mills are producing 100 tonnes more than before, which is around a 100% increase in the production.
Another former chairman of the PVMA, Abdul Majeed Haji Mohammed, stated that the demand for oil and ghee has definitely increased by 20% in the past couple of days. However, the former vice chairman of the PVMA, Sheikh Umer Rehan, stated that only 1% of elite class went to super stores and markets in Karachi, and ended up panic buying bulks of cooking oil and ghee, while the poorer people are a non-participating audience to this situation. He further claimed that Punjab still has not resorted to panic buying.
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