Pakistanis struggle with skyrocketing milk and chicken prices as inflation tops 48-year high

Pakistan’s dire state of economy after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sought more time to conclude a $1.1 billion loan tranche, is severely hitting its retail consumers. Pakistanis across the length of the country located in India’s northwest in South Asia, are struggling to put necessary food items on the table, such as milk and chicken — a common principal item in Pakistani meals. 

A report in The Dawn stated that the prices of loose milk have been increased from PKR 190 to 210 per litre. Meanwhile, the prices of live broiler chickens have seen an increase of Pakistani Rupees 30-40 per kg this week, following which it now costs 480-500 per kilogram. 

The report added that the prices of boneless meat have hit a peak of Pakistani Rupees 1,000-1,100. While the typical chicken meat is being sold at PKR 700-780 per kg from PKR 620-650 before. 

The representatives of Pakistani milk industry told the media that many shopkeepers are selling milk at an inflated price —a common marketplace malpractice in the countries facing economic crisis or a looking economic collapse. 

“Over 1,000 shopkeepers are selling milk at an inflated rate. These are actually shops of wholesalers/dairy farmers and not our members,” Karachi Milk Retailers Association media coordinator Waheed Gaddi was quoted as saying by The Dawn. 

At the same time, representatives of Pakistani poultry industry justified the wholesale to retail price difference of meat prices in the country. 

The Sindh Poultry Wholesalers Association general secretary Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui told Dawn that the wholesale rate of live bird was PKR 600 per kg while meat rate was hovering between PKR 650 and PKR 700. 

In Pakistan, the inflation is at a 48-year high. Foreign currency reserves, according to the country’s own official estimates, cover less than a month of imports. The Consumer Price Index index increased by 27.6 per cent in January 2023. Wholesale Price Index has increased to 28.5 per cent in the same period.

The skyrocketing retail prices of the common food items in Pakistan come after the negotiations between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Islamabad for a $1.1 billion loan tranche. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has cited last year’s devastating floods of the country as defining attribute of country’s current state of dire economy. Critics, however, cite years of economic mismanagement amid consistent political uncertainty in Islamabad’s power corridors as underlying causes beneath the shaky foundations of the country’s economy at present.

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