Clothes are costlier by 50% this Eid

Internews/Karachi

Pakistani girls show their hands decorated with henna ahead of Eid-al-Fitr in Peshawar

Already burdened with high food prices, surging petroleum prices and utility bills, Pakistani consumers have to pay around 50% more this year to buy ready-made cotton and wash and wear shalwar kameez suits (national dress).The Eid festival is round the corner and the comparative improvement in law and order has brought buyers back in the markets. The demand of garments and other wearable is proving to be a boon for the retailers who are trying their best to recover last 11 months of turbulence period in sales from the consumers.Smelling huge demand, many clever retailers keep jacking up prices with the passage of each day and people are seen paying almost 100% above the actual price prevailing ahead of Ramadan.Saddar Alliance of Market Association and Saddar Cooperative Market president Shaikh Mohamed Feroz linked the increase in rates of ready-made shalwar kameez to the rising prices of cloth which they procured from Faisalabad mainly.He said the retailers had lifted 80% of cloth from Faisalabad at almost 50% higher prices this year while the rest was procured from Karachi-based textile mills and wholesale cloth market.This year the average price of unstitched cotton and wash and wear cloth price from Faisalabad was $1 per metre as compared to around half dollar per metre last year, he said.He said a complete shalwar kameez suit, which used to cost $7-$8 last year, is now tagged at over $13 but as Eid draws nearer, many retailers are minting money by selling these garments beyond $13.He claimed that retailers in Cooperative Market Saddar had given 30% to 40% low orders to the Karachi-based tailors this year in fear of any untoward incident in view of deteriorating law and order situation.He said for the last three to five days, Saddar has been witnessing huge presence of buyers but it is still lower than last year due to higher prices and security issues.Irrespective of higher prices of cloths due to hike in cotton and yarn prices, many leading designers, who lift cloths from leading mills, are also charging higher prices.These leading designers and many stores are charging at least $4-$7 more on the national dress.The retailer said that there was different GST on various products but the company was charging 4% on ready-made and unstitched clothes.