Home › Weekly Brief › Week of 12 Oct 2026

Pakistan & Gulf Weekly Brief

Week of 12 Oct 2026. What is queuing at Pakistan's ports, how busy the region's ports and sea lanes are, and what staples, building materials and fuel are selling for on both sides of the Arabian Sea, in US dollars beside the local price. Published every Monday from the platform's daily collection.

367,378 tof cargo waiting off Karachi and Port Qasim, Pakistan (14 ships)

29ships through the Strait of Hormuz in 7 days (▲ 16.0% against the 4 weeks before)

US$1,048/tsuper basmati rice, new crop, Pakistani wholesale (no change on the week)

US$1.17/Lpetrol (95) in the UAE in October (▲ 16.0% on September)

Pakistan's seaports

What is queuing at Karachi and Port Qasim

Tonnes of cargo Pakistan's two main seaports list as due, waiting at anchorage and alongside, by commodity, from the port authorities' own daily lists. Container ships are not included: the ports count their boxes, not their tonnes.

Port lists of 17 Oct 2026. Waiting a week earlier is from the lists of 10 Oct 2026.
Cargo	Ships	Due (t)	Waiting (t)	Alongside (t)	Waiting a week earlier (t)
Coal	5	—	109,908	150,734	53,726
Crude Oil	3	218,275	—	—	—
Palm Oil	10	—	171,976	37,004	185,830
General Cargo	7	112,389	—	—	—
Rice	7	25,400	25,500	17,233	—
Soyabean Seed	1	—	—	66,911	—
Fertilizer / Urea	1	50,000	—	—	—
Steel Coil	1	—	37,115	—	—
Mogas	1	—	—	36,278	57,398
Founace Slaug	1	—	22,879	—	—

Sea lanes and Gulf ports

How busy the routes and the ports are

Ships through the three sea lanes the region's trade depends on, and calls at the busiest ports of Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Ships through each sea lane in its latest seven days, against its weekly average over the four weeks before.
Sea lane	Ships, 7 days	Tankers	Vs 4-week average
Suez Canal	292	119	▲ 2.5%
Bab el-Mandeb Strait	198	60	▲ 4.1%
Strait of Hormuz	29	4	▲ 16.0%

The busiest ports of Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in their latest seven days. Tonnages are estimates of the cargo carried.
Port	Country	Ship calls, 7 days	Vs 4-week average	Imports (t)	Exports (t)
Fujairah	United Arab Emirates	55	▲ 12.2%	467,030	732,133
Dubai	United Arab Emirates	38	▼ 1.3%	6,155	11,725
Karachi	Pakistan	35	▼ 9.7%	355,513	197,992
Jebel Ali	United Arab Emirates	29	▼ 14.7%	366,242	218,552
Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	29	▼ 15.3%	40,052	9,811
Muhammad Bin Qasim	Pakistan	22	▼ 15.4%	468,456	73,363
Al Hamriyah LPG Terminal	United Arab Emirates	15	▲ 9.1%	108,283	49,426
Mina Saqr	United Arab Emirates	15	▼ 16.7%	15,860	440,576
Khalifa Port	United Arab Emirates	15	no change	130,037	14,329
Dammam	Saudi Arabia	14	▲ 14.3%	53,015	68,817

Built from satellite ship tracking. Data to 11 Oct 2026; it is published about a week behind and recent days are revised.

Pakistan's wholesale markets

Staples in Punjab's wholesale markets

Punjab grows most of Pakistan's wheat, rice and vegetables. These are the province-wide wholesale rates its agriculture marketing service publishes each day, in US dollars and in rupees.

Rates of 16 Oct 2026. The dollar figure is the middle of the day's range. The change is on the nearest day at least a week before, in rupees.
Commodity	Price (US$)	Price (local)	Week on week
Wheat	US$424 /t	Rs 11,500–12,000 /100 kg	▲ 6.3%
Super basmati rice, new crop	US$1,048 /t	Rs 28,000–30,000 /100 kg	no change
Super basmati rice, old crop	US$1,142 /t	Rs 31,250–32,000 /100 kg	▲ 1.2%
Basmati paddy	US$458 /t	Rs 12,000–13,375 /100 kg	▲ 9.7%
Maize (corn)	US$226 /t	Rs 6,000–6,500 /100 kg	▼ 3.8%
Sugar (white)	US$500 /t	Rs 13,700–14,000 /100 kg	no change
Chickpeas (desi, small)	US$724 /t	Rs 20,000–20,100 /100 kg	no change
Mung beans	US$871 /t	Rs 24,000–24,200 /100 kg	▼ 10.7%
Onions	US$601 /t	Rs 16,200–17,100 /100 kg	▲ 2.1%
Potatoes, new crop	US$379 /t	Rs 10,000–11,000 /100 kg	▼ 3.2%
Tomatoes	US$345 /t	Rs 9,100–10,000 /100 kg	▼ 26.8%
Bananas	US$0.44 /dozen	Rs 112–130 /dozen	▲ 6.9%

Across the Gulf

Fuel and official prices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar

What a litre of fuel costs in each country, and what the Gulf governments' own price bulletins say staples and building materials are selling for.

Pump prices per litre, set by each country. The change is on the previous price period, in local currency: a week for Pakistan, whose prices move daily, and the previous month for the others.
Country	Price for	Petrol (95)	Change	Diesel	Change
Pakistan	16 Oct 2026	US$1.41 PKR 390.23	▼ 2.2%	US$1.43 PKR 396.96	▲ 0.3%
United Arab Emirates	October 2026	US$1.17 AED 4.28	▲ 16.0%	US$1.31 AED 4.80	▲ 11.6%
Saudi Arabia	October 2026	US$0.62 SAR 2.33	no change	US$0.48 SAR 1.79	no change
Qatar	September 2026	US$0.58 QAR 2.10	no change	US$0.56 QAR 2.05	no change

Saudi Arabia's official average retail prices for August 2026, as its national statistics authority publishes them, about six weeks after the month.
Item	Per	Price	On the month	On the year
Rebar 12 mm, Saudi-made	tonne	US$835 SAR 3,129.78	▼ 1.1%	▲ 21.6%
Cement (ordinary grey), Saudi-made	50 kg	US$4.15 SAR 15.55	▲ 0.1%	▲ 0.6%
Ready-mix concrete, grade 250	m³	US$51.87 SAR 194.53	▼ 0.6%	▼ 2.0%
Basmati rice, Indian, branded	10 kg	US$25.27 SAR 94.76	▲ 1.5%	▼ 0.9%
Mutton, fresh	kg	US$18.99 SAR 71.21	▲ 1.3%	▲ 6.1%
Onions, local	kg	US$1.21 SAR 4.55	▲ 17.9%	▲ 16.7%
Onions, imported	kg	US$1.37 SAR 5.12	▲ 11.5%	▲ 7.3%
Mangoes from Pakistan	kg	US$3.66 SAR 13.71	▲ 4.0%	▲ 10.3%

Doha's central market on 15 Oct 2026, per kilo: produce from Pakistan against the cheapest and dearest other origin of the same product.
Product	From Pakistan	Cheapest other origin	Dearest other origin
Potato	US$1.10 QAR 4.00	US$0.82 QAR 3.00 (Saudi Arabia)	US$0.96 QAR 3.50 (Syria)
Red Onions	US$1.10 QAR 4.00	US$1.10 QAR 4.00 (Egypt)	US$1.10 QAR 4.00 (Syria)

World benchmarks

The international prices behind them

Monthly average world prices for the commodities the region trades, for reference against the local figures above.

Monthly averages for September 2026 (published 6 Oct 2026).
Commodity	Unit	Price	On the month	On the year
Brent crude	US$ per barrel	102.02	▲ 15.8%	▲ 50.9%
Dubai crude	US$ per barrel	111.83	▲ 27.0%	▲ 59.9%
LNG, Asia	US$ per mmBtu	26.64	▲ 20.9%	▲ 136.2%
Coal, Australia	US$ per tonne	153.8	▲ 9.5%	▲ 36.7%
Urea	US$ per tonne	260	▲ 11.9%	▲ 9.9%
DAP fertiliser	US$ per tonne	882	▲ 1.1%	▲ 2.8%
Wheat	US$ per tonne	247	▲ 3.8%	▲ 59.1%
Rice, Thai	US$ per tonne	466	▲ 5.9%	▲ 33.6%
Palm oil	US$ per tonne	1,133	▲ 0.1%	▲ 9.5%
Sugar, world	US cents per lb	17.94	▲ 6.6%	▲ 13.6%
Cotton	US cents per lb	95.8	▲ 0.2%	▲ 22.9%
Iron ore	US$ per dry tonne	100.4	▲ 0.8%	▼ 5.6%
Copper	US$ per tonne	14,473	▲ 1.0%	▲ 44.8%
Aluminium	US$ per tonne	3,283	▲ 1.0%	▲ 23.7%
Gold	US$ per troy ounce	4,335	▼ 1.9%	▲ 18.2%

The full picture, every day

The brief is a few lines from the week. The platform carries every series behind them, and thousands more, updated daily with full history and exports.

Request a demo Tour the platform

Pakistani rupees are converted at the State Bank of Pakistan's weighted average rate of 16 Oct 2026 (Rs 276.83 per US dollar); the UAE dirham, Saudi riyal and Qatari riyal at their fixed US dollar pegs (3.6725, 3.75 and 3.64). Changes are worked out on local prices, so a move in the exchange rate does not show up as a move in price. Figures are shown as the port authorities, governments and oil companies published them; nothing has been estimated or adjusted. Brief of 2026-10-12.