JEDDAH, 29 January 2006 — Reaction by supermarket managers in Jeddah to the controversial cartoons published in the Danish and Norwegian media is patchy. In some supermarkets, gaps with labels in English and Arabic, indicate that Danish products have been withdrawn; in others shelves were fully stocked with familiar Danish products yesterday.

The cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were originally published by Jyllands-Posten, Denmark’s largest daily newspaper, on Sept. 30 and were reprinted by Norway’s Magazinet magazine on Jan. 10.

E-mails and text messages continue to circulate urging Muslims to boycott Danish products. Petitions and phone calls are being sent to the relevant Danish authorities demanding an apology for the offensive cartoons. Local companies in the Kingdom are under pressure to act.

Meanwhile, supermarkets are pulling out Danish products from their shelves. “We have pulled all Danish products from the shelves of our Panda supermarkets and hypermarkets as of Thursday and left the shelves empty for the people to notice. We have stopped promoting Danish products since early last week. This is a very important issue for us out of principle. This will continue until a just and satisfying official response from Denmark,” said Mohammed Gashgari, retail sector manager at Savola Group, which owns the Panda chain.

The manager of a flagship supermarket in Jeddah said imported Danish dairy products accounted for about five percent of their sales in product volume but more in terms of income. He confirmed that no decision had been taken to reintroduce Danish products on the shelves. “As the situation stands, they are off for the foreseeable future.”

His supermarket took the initiative when the news became common knowledge. “We have had very positive feedback from our customers to our decision,” he said.

However, the manager of a major supermarket in the north of Jeddah said that there had been almost no reaction at all to date. “We have had one person bring back a purchase asking for a refund. Given the circumstances, we respected his wish at once.”

In their sales flyer covering Jan. 25 to 31, Panda has included a photograph of Danish Feta Cheese with the words “Canceled” in English and Arabic clearly overprinted.

Danish food producers Arla Foods confirmed that the anger sparked by the cartoons had prompted a boycott of its products in Saudi Arabia. “We are certainly afraid this will spread across Saudi Arabia and affect our business,” Director Finn Hansen told Reuters.

For the past few days the stock price of Saudi Dairy and Foodstuff Companies has been slipping down. SADAFCO was established in 1976 with the formation of Danish Saudi Dairy Company. Although the company acquired the Saudi Danish Dairy Company of Riyadh in 1987 and in the early 1990s merged with Gulf Danish Dairy Company and Madinah Danish Dairy Company, thereby forming SADAFCO and becoming a 100-percent Saudi company, people still associate it with Danish companies.

Sources at SADAFCO said that after noticing the drop in the stock price and being inundated with phone calls on the company’s position on the boycott, the management decided to clarify to the public that it and its products have nothing to do with Denmark anymore, not even its raw material.

In a statement posted on Tadawul yesterday, SADAFCO assured its Saudi and Gulf investors that it does not import or sell any products from Denmark or Norway.

“In clarification to what was circulated by some sources on the Internet and in distributed pamphlets in public places that the Saudi Dairy and Foodstuff Company is a Saudi Danish company, the company’s management emphasizes that the company’s nationality is Saudi 100 percent and that all its shareholders, partners and individuals including the founding investors, are citizens of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. The administration also assures that it does not import or sell any products from Denmark or Norway as all its products are produced in its factories in Jeddah and Dammam and the raw material used in its production lines are from local markets or Gulf or New Zealand.”

The statement also said that the company intends to sue the sources that distribute information on the company without verifying it through official channels.

Leaders of the Muslim community in Denmark called the cartoons an insult to Islam and the Prophet and on Oct. 6, demanded a formal apology from Jyllands-Posten. The editor, Carsten Juste, refused saying that “we live in a democracy where satire and caricature are generally accepted and where religion should not pose any limits on this.”

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh has refused to receive 11 Muslim ambassadors who wished to discuss the issue. His New Year’s message described freedom of expression as both vital and non-negotiable. However he condemned “any form of expression, action or signs that tended to demonize a group of people on the basis of their religion.”

On Jan. 5, an agreement was reached between the Arab League and Denmark not to pursue the controversy any further. However, the republication of the cartoons in Norway’s Magazinet rekindled the controversy.