Cooking oil, flour & fuel prices down in Kabul

KABUL (Pajhwok): Following the rise in the value of the afghani against the US dollar, prices of cooking oil, flour and fuel declined during the outgoing week in Kabul, market sources said on Saturday.

Haji Mohammad Hussain, owner of the Sadaqat Money Exchange Service, said the local currency edged up during the week when one US dollar traded at 70afs and 1,000 Pakistani rupees at 250afs.

During the previous week, one US dollar accounted for 71.20afs and 1,000 Pakistani rupees for 255afs. The spike in the afghani value is essentially linked to periodic dollar auctions by the central bank.

Food items

Zmarai Safi, head of the Food Traders’ Association, said the price of a 49-kilogram sack of Kazakh flour fell from 1,400afs to 1,380afs and a 16-litre bottle of Malaysian cooking oil from 1,800afs to 1,700afs.

The price of a 49-kilogram bag of Indian sugar cost 2,500afs, a 24-kg bag of Pakistani rice stayed stable at 2,600afs, a kilogram of African black tea at 400afs and the same amount of Indonesian green tea at 350afs.

Hamid Sufizada, a retailer at Dahna-i-Bagh market, put the retail price of a 49-kg bag of Kazakh flour at 1,430afs, a 24-kg bag of Pakistani rice at 2,650afs and a 49-kg sack of Indian sugar at 2,550afs.

A 16-litre bottle of cooking oil accounted for 1,750afs, one kilogram of black tea for 400afs and the same quantity of green tea for 450afs, he added.

Fuel prices

A worker at the Ahmadyar pump station told Pajhwok the price of one litre of petrol edged down from 62afs to 61afs and diesel from 58afs to 57afs.

He also said the rate of one kilogram liquefied gas decreased from 60afs to 54afs.

Gold prices up

Mohammad Fawad, a jeweller in Timor Shahi area, said the price of one gram of Arabian gold went up from 5,450afs to 5,500afs and the same amount of the Russian variety from 4,350afs to 4,450afs.

sa/mud