Most of the sweet stores have already raised prices while some more are preparing to do so. The stores said they were left with no option but to raise price of sweets as sugar price has almost doubled as compared to the price of last year.[break]
Aagan Shree at New Road has raised prices of most of its sweet items by 10 percent. Bikash Gupta, manager of Aaagan Shree, said they were compelled to raise price as it was becoming difficult for them to run business due to soaring sugar prices.
“The price of sugar has almost doubled over the year. Raising price was a compulsion for us,” he added.
Since sugar is the major ingredient of sweet items, rise in sugar prices increases cost of production for sweet stores. The price of sugar has almost doubled from Rs 53 per kg recorded last year.
Saroj Tiwari, departmental head of Salt Trading Corporation, said they had fixed retail price of sugar at Rs 80 per kg. “Even though there is shortage of sugar in the market as the total demand for sugar stands at 150 tons against our annual production of 100 tons,” he added.
Along with sugar, prices of other ingredients like whole flour and ghee have also increased over the period. The price of whole flour has increased to Rs 28 per kg from Rs 20 recorded a year ago, while the price of palm oil has touched Rs 74 per kg from Rs 63 per kg.
Rameshwor Foods, another popular sweet shop at New Road, has also raised prices of their sweet items by 10 percent. Gokul Subedi, manager of Rameshwor Foods, said they were left with no option but to raise prices of sweet items due to heavy rise in sugar price.
But Anmol Sweets at Bhatbhateni, which is in the business for the last six years, has not changed its prices in the last eight months. However, Suman Thapa, manager at Anmol Sweets, said they were preparing to raise price of their sweet items by around 20 percent.
“The rise in sugar price increases our production cost. Sooner or later, every sweet store will raise price,” he added.
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