Why is SQL not returning a single value as text?

You still need to add connection property as below, also check some of the changes I made for a better errors management(top 1 in select and finally):

string command = "SELECT top 1 NFF FROM dbo.Prices WHERE Item ='MFD' ";

                SqlConnection SQLCON = new SqlConnection(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.
ConnectionStrings["DefaultConnection"].ConnectionString);
                try
                {
                    SQLCON.Open();
                    SqlCommand SQLCommand = new SqlCommand();
                    SQLCommand.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
                    SQLCommand.Connection = SQLCON;
                    SQLCommand.CommandText = command;
                    Int32 price = (Int32)SQLCommand.ExecuteScalar();

                   
                    return;

                }
                catch
                {

                }
                finally
                {
                    SQLCON.Close();
                }

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Fouad Roumieh