Cooking oil prices rise, gold declines in Kabul — Pajhwok

KABUL (Pajhwok): The prices of Malaysian cooking oil and fuel increased, while gold prices declined in outgoing week in Kabul markets, market sources said on Saturday. Zmarai Safi, head of the Food Traders’ Association, said that the price of a 16-litre bottle of Malaysian cooking oil increased from 2,250afs to 2,300afs. He linked the increase to higher demand and lower imports. However, he said the prices of other essential food items remained unchanged, with a 49-kilogramme sack of Kazakh flour costing 1,650afs, a 24-kilogramme bag of Indian rice 2,600afs, a 49-kilogramme sack of Indian sugar 2,600afs, one kilogramme of African black tea 380afs and the same quantity of Indonesian green tea 350afs. He noted that in some cases, retail prices differed slightly from wholesale prices, while in others, the difference was more significant. Hamid Sufizada, a retailer at Dahna-i-Bagh market, put the retail price of a 49-kilogramme bag of Kazakh flour at 1,700afs, a 24-kilogramme bag of Indian rice at 2,550afs and a 49-kilogramme sack of Indian sugar at 2,650afs. A 16-litre bottle of cooking oil cost 2,350afs, one kilogramme of black tea 400afs and the same quantity of green tea 430afs, he added. Hikmatullah Mohammadi, an employee at a petrol station in the Wazirabad area of Kabul, said the price of one litre of petrol remained unchanged at 85afs….