RIYADH: Retailers in Riyadh have almost doubled the prices of fruit and vegetables over the past two to three days taking undue advantage of the holy month of Ramadan when the demand for basic food items usually goes up.
Meanwhile, the regular reporting of swine flu and the closure of all of the city’s schools, which led to a large number of Saudi and expatriate families leaving the Kingdom, have dampened the festive mood.
Supermarkets in Riyadh are offering reasonable prices for the majority of food items apart from vegetables. “But the prices of potatoes, onions, cucumbers, oranges, bananas and lettuce, among other things, have increased by 25 to 100 percent,” said Rashid Al-Banhar, a vendor at Riyadh’s main vegetable market.
“From SR4 per kg, the price of cucumbers has gone up to SR10, while potatoes have gone up to SR4, tomatoes SR6 and onions SR4,” said Al-Banhar.
Wazeeh Chaudhury, a Bangladeshi vegetable seller, accused wholesalers of raising prices. Chaudhury, however, said there are nominal increases in the prices of other items like zucchini, cauliflower and apples.
Asked about the prices of foodstuffs, Arif Memon, operation manager of Balsharaf Corp., which runs several supermarkets in Riyadh, said food items were reasonably priced with no hike. “Rather, we have had some promotional programs under which many essential items are being sold at premium prices,” said Memon.
Badarudeen Siyad, operation manager of Naeem Foods Trading Est., echoed similar views. Both reported no increase in about 100 food items such as rice, wheat flour, sugar, pulses, cheese, butter and milk.
According to market sources, wholesalers are blaming the price rise on reduced supplies during the fasting month and there being no fixed auction times.
“Auctions are done as soon as a vehicle full of imported stock comes in and the price is fixed according to the supplies,” said a source.
If a particular product is in short supply, its price goes up like it happened in the case of cucumbers, which are being sold at SR8 to SR10 per kg in Riyadh.
Butcheries, in particular, are believed to be manipulating prices during the fasting month because the demand for meat goes up considerably.
