Residents in the Kingdom tend to buy less fish and more vegetables, chicken and red meat during Ramadan. Such a switch is causing a recession in sales, with fish prices dropping by 30 percent in Jeddah and as much as 50 percent in the Eastern Province and Riyadh.
In the Eastern Province, the price fell by 50 percent from just three weeks ago. Fish consumption also decreases due to the hot weather. Fishermen predict that prices are expected to go down even lower.
But despite weak demand and low prices, the overall price of fish continues to remain high compared to the last five years, with the price of a kilogram of hammour priced at SR50 and varying for other types of fish. Sellers, meanwhile, continue to maintain that prices are reasonable.
“Prices have been stable during this week thanks to better weather conditions,” Abdullah Matouq, a seller in the Qatif Central Market, said.
“Customers are now buying fish such as hammour and kanad, priced between SR40 and SR45 per kg. Such prices are expected to drop,” he added.
The price of fish is expected to increase at the end of the holy month and during the shrimp season because fishermen shift to catching this delicacy, Matouq said. He said that in the last two days, fish prices have dropped due to lack of demand and the fact that fishermen have increased their catch.
However, Hashem Al Bahraneh, a fisherman, said the catch these days is reasonable, “protecting prices for fishermen and consumers, but sellers are afraid of the quantities on display, which may mean that prices will increase anew.”
He said that in the summer period, prices increase for certain types of fish like kanad and nejm, but that the price of Al-Mid is lower due to sufficient supply.
“The shrimp season will be another period witnessing lower demand in fish consumption and there will be less catch, as fishermen are busy catching shrimp.”
Ali Al-Moutaweh, another seller, agreed that fish prices are affected by weather and demand. “The price of fish is subject to the weather, which means you can’t have stable prices.”
He said that bad weather conditions that affected the area in the last two months contributed to an increase in prices because of the lack of supply, adding that consumers had begun purchasing local and imported fish at low prices.
The price of hammour ranged between SR 35 and SR 50 per kg on Monday, in addition to kanad at SR 40 and sheiri at SR 25, but shrimp prices were stable at SR 40 per kg, safi at SR 52, fuskar at SR 20 and mid at SR 18.
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