JEDDAH, 26 March 2003 — Supermarkets and shopping malls have reported a sharp increase in sales of food and food-related items since the start of the US-led war on Iraq. This, however, is accompanied by a drop in the day-to-day turnover of non-food items.
“Our food sales have gone up by 20 to 25 percent in the past four days, but we see a 20 to 30 percent drop in the sales of non-food items,” a spokesman for Marhaba supermarket said.
“Some of our fast-moving food items include rice and pulses aside from vegetables like onion and potato. Maybe people are buying them in larger quantities than they need.”
A tour of some of the leading shopping malls on Tahlia Street, Balad and Sharafiyah showed that people are visiting them but not buying as much as they normally do.
“Over the weekend, shoppers did visit us but were not inclined to buy,” said Yahya Karim, 37, who supervises a watch shop at Jamjoom Center.
Those dealing in textiles and readymade garments said their daily turnover remained steady. Outlets dealing in electronic goods said there had been a sharp increase in sales of radio and television sets as well as satellite dish accessories.
“The only non-food items selling well since the US-led war on Iraq seem to be radios and TV sets. That satellite dish accessories are up suggests that people are now increasingly going in for satellite dishes to see the ongoing war in their drawing rooms,” a leading TV dealer in Balad said.
Gold shops in Balad and Kandara said there were more inquiries from buyers of gold and jewelry.
“Our daily sales, however, don’t match the number of inquiries,” commented Saeed Moosa, 39, who oversees a gold shop in Balad.
In a related development, several more events have been reported canceled. The Jeddah-based Institute of Business Administration canceled its scheduled meeting with US Consul General Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley.
“We decided to put off our meeting with the US consul general at the last minute due to the prevailing situation in the region,” IBN Marketing and PR Manager Naif ibn Mahmoud told Arab News.
The British International School (Continental) announced a three-day extension of the suspension of its classes. “The school remains closed until Saturday,” an announcement said.
Meanwhile, members of the Indian community are keeping their fingers crossed in the wake of reports that Air-India and Indian Airlines may suspend flights from Kuwait due to high rates of war-risk insurance.
A top Indian civil aviation official was in Kuwait to review flight arrangements to meet the increased demand of Indians wanting to return home due to the war, said an airline source. Lufthansa announced that it flights to Dammam and Amman via Kuwait remain on hold until further notice.
