07.05.2018 (The News International (blog)) - Islamabad:Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders (ICST) on Sunday said a hike of rupees 15 per kg in the price of ghee and cooking oil amounts to exploitation of the masses which is intolerable.

The price of ghee and cooking oil shot up by almost Rs10 per kg due to recent currency depreciation while the government didn’t take any remedial step; rather it increased customs duty on imports of edible oil which has further increased its price by Rs5 per kg in the local market, it said.

Customs duty on import of Soybean oil has been revised upward by 32.6 per cent which has increased the price of cooking oil by Rs5 per kg while the price of a sixteen kg container of ghee has been increased by Rs80 in the local market, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt. The move is set to burden poor masses and trigger food security issue manufacturers are transferring the impact of hike of Rs2950 per tonne in the duty to the masses, he added.