JEDDAH, 16 November 2004 — In the last two days of Ramadan, traders estimate that the residents of Jeddah spent over SR500 million on 700 tons of confectionery. The huge splurge on chocolates and sweets is one of the most conspicuous and traditional purchases for the Eid festivities.
Sweets remain the holiday special for the people of Saudi Arabia. Shoppers rushed to buy both traditional homemade sweets and chocolates. Fastidious customers spent hours looking for their favorite sweets — the kind they thought people had stopped making.
Hundreds of stalls dot the city, with almost every old and new market having special places reserved for sweet sellers. In the Balad area, stalls selling sweets lined the alleys of Souk Al-Nada, the main downtown market.
Shop owners said that the volume of sales during the last two days of Ramadan equal the whole of the rest of the year.
Traditional confections account for 45 percent of the market with these mainly sold in the central areas of the city.
The price of traditional sweets is high generally compared with other kinds, with prices up to SR50 per kilo. Some exotic brands of imported chocolates however were selling for SR250 to SR300 a kilo. These are mainly Swiss, French and Italian made. The rush to buy sweets has resulted in a 40 percent increase in the imports, according to one trader.
Saeed Al-Harthi, who has been in the business for several years, said selling sweets is a profitable business especially during the season. He put a stall outside his shop to ease the pressure inside which was packed with shoppers all night. “Most of the stuff we sell is traditional and these kinds of homemade sweets are sought by many from different nationalities and age groups,” he said.
