A news report released recently claimed that last year Saudis spent about $1 billion on the purchase of shumaghs (the male head dress) — including 16 million sold on Eid night alone. According to the report, Saudis buy about 50 million shumaghs every year.
I cannot in any way vouch for the accuracy (or not) of the statistics concerning Saudi consumption. I have never in my life read accurate figures for the consumption of a single commodity. Even our mile runner records about 10 varying figures, which are far from each other because he does not run at the same pace.
According to various statistics I have collected, Saudis spend about SR5 billion annually on perfumes and this includes SR1.5 billion on perfumes for men. As my sense of smell is by far the best sense I have, I will also testify that I have very rarely smelt perfume on men.
Where then do these billions of riyals go? I have also learned about a report on MBC that said half of married Saudi men do not sleep with their wives in the same room and prefer to sleep in separate rooms. This is happening at a time when men allegedly spend SR1.5 billion on perfumes.
The statistics also say Saudis spend about SR800 million on oud, which is a commodity very easy to fake. In an advertising campaign, a shop selling these perfumes claimed that one third of the oud perfumes in the Kingdom were artificial — which means that Saudis spend about SR600 million on pieces of wood splashed with oil.
According to the report, Saudi citizens every year spend about SR100 million on chewing gum, which is then spat out on roads or pavements. Paradoxically, Singapore collects about $25 million annually from fines for chewing gum thrown away on streets.
Saudis top the entire world in the consumption of tea and coffee. They also top the world in the consumption of Viagra, spending about SR150 million on it annually. The poor people who read such statistics might ask a legitimate question: Where do we live?
