Prices of key vegetables in Pakistan recorded steep year-on-year declines during the week ended January 8, 2026, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The data is drawn from the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which tracks short-term price movements of 51 essential commodities collected from 50 markets across 17 urban centres. PBS data shows that vegetables were among the main contributors to lower food prices compared with the same week last year.
Tomatoes recorded the largest annual decline. Prices fell by 57.04 per cent year on year, with the average price at PKR 65.09 per kilogram during the reporting week, compared with PKR 151.52 per kilogram in the corresponding week of January 2025.
Potato prices also declined sharply on an annual basis, down 48.71 per cent. The average price fell from PKR 95.70 per kilogram in the same period last year to PKR 49.08 per kilogram during the week under review.
Onions registered a year-on-year decrease of 41.33 per cent, with average prices falling from PKR 134.32 per kilogram last year to PKR 78.80 per kilogram in the current reporting period.
PBS data indicate that tomatoes, potatoes, and onions were among the main items driving year-on-year price declines within the food category. Other food commodities showing annual decreases included garlic, which declined by 36.07 per cent, and pulse gram, which fell by 30.97 per cent compared with the same week last year.
On a week-on-week basis, potato and onion prices also moved lower. Potato prices declined by 3.73 per cent compared with the previous week ended January 1, 2026, while onion prices fell by 2.20 per cent. Tomato prices showed a marginal weekly decrease of 0.05 per cent.
According to the SPI executive summary, while some food items recorded weekly and annual increases, the sharp year-on-year decline in vegetable prices was a notable feature of the latest data. The reductions were observed across the surveyed markets included in the PBS weekly price collection process.
Source: INP
