Chandigarh, August 24: Soaring prices of basic kitchen staples have begun mounting heavy financial pressure on middle- and lower-income households across the region, with essential commodities including wheat flour, sugar, and mustard oil recording a sharp upward swing in retail markets. Unbranded chakki flour has registered an increase of Rs 3 per kg, while branded varieties have seen hikes ranging from Rs 1 per kg to over Rs 10 per 10-kg pack. The trend is compounded by sugar touching Rs 75 per kg and mustard oil shooting up by nearly 20 per cent over the past month.
Local retailers note that the sudden escalation in wholesale rates has directly impacted daily consumers. Buta Ram, a retail grocer, stated that he was selling 10-kg bags of unbranded wheat flour for Rs 350 after wholesalers raised their rates from Rs 315. He affirmed that he does not sell branded atta since the majority of his customers come from middle- and lower-middle-income families.
The sharp shift in flour rates stems primarily from raw grain availability after the seasonal harvest. Naresh Ghai, president of the Punjab Roller Flour Mills Association, declared that Punjab has about 90 roller flour mills and thousands of atta chakkis, adding that all of them had increased the price. He maintained that the central government had procured 122 lakh tonnes of wheat from Punjab during the April harvest season, accounting for 98 per cent of the state’s wheat production, with the remaining two per cent stocked by flour millers.
With private stocks exhausted, millers have been forced to source raw materials at significantly higher rates from other regions. Raghav Arora, a local flour miller, asserted that wheat was procured at the MSP of Rs 2,585 per quintal in April, whereas millers were now buying the same quantity at approximately Rs 2,800. He added that since millers were not doing any value addition to the product, the increase in atta prices largely reflected the higher cost of wheat and processing.
Trade representatives have pointed toward systemic patterns in post-harvest supply dynamics, noting that Punjab transitions into a supply deficit once national procurement cycles conclude. Ghai asserted that this happens every year after the procurement season, maintaining that Punjab is both a major wheat-producing and wheat-consuming state. He declared that after procurement season is over, Punjab becomes wheat deficient, suggesting that the Union government should come out with a special policy for the state as it has been the country’s food bowl.
The escalation extends across all major kitchen essentials, placing everyday expenses out of reach for working families. Hira Singh, a roadside vendor, stated that higher petrol, diesel, and LPG prices, coupled with the increase in atta, sugar, and mustard oil, had raised his family’s daily living cost. He maintained that all these commodities form a staple part of their routine kitchen requirements.
