Arab News headed out to the vegetable market in Jeddah Wednesday to check on the prices of tomatoes, onions, coriander, parsley and other produces. We found that in just the past couple of weeks the price of a large bunch of coriander and parsley, a necessity in many Ramadan dishes rose from SR3 to as much as SR10.
A sack of potatoes grown in Hail rose from SR10 to as much as SR30. One variety of local white onion, also grown in the Kingdom, increased from SR10 to SR30. Cauliflower prices also rose, with six heads previously priced at SR15 two weeks ago now selling for as much as SR30.
Abdullah Al-Malki, a Saudi vegetable stall owner in Jeddah’s Central Vegetable Market, blamed foreign vendors for the price hikes. He says that the Saudi owners of the stalls at the market rent out their spaces to foreigners.
“For nearly a decade due to the Saudization initiative expatriates have been banned from buying vegetables in bulk or working in a stall at the vegetable market. However, due to some uncooperative Saudi stall owners, foreigners are still a big part of the produce market,” said Al-Malki.
With the Saudi owners out of the way, Al-Malki says the expatriate workers mark up the prices.
“In the shop owner’s absence the expat increases the price by SR10 to SR15 per item and pockets the extra cash,” he said.
In the Eastern Province, there are other circumstances stall owners have been using to manipulate prices. According to an article published in Al-Riyadh newspaper, the region has been suffering from an artificial “drying of the market.”
In this scenario shop owners deliberately withhold their merchandise to spur an artificially high demand which in turn causes prices to skyrocket.
The Arabic daily said that prices of fruit and vegetables in Dammam have at least doubled recently.
Mohammed Baqmi, a vegetable store owner in Dammam, was quoted as saying expat vendors in their market is also a problem that is contributing to price hikes.
“The high prices are primarily due to the expatriate work force who control the central vegetable market,” he said.
He commented that even though some items are seasonal, shop owners do not try to help in stabilizing prices. Instead they work to fix prices and provide inadequate supplies to cause spikes.
Baqmi also noted that the items in particularly high demand have been rising to reach an increase of nearly 200 percent from three weeks ago. He added that he expects the prices to level out after the fifth day of Ramadan and begin to decline as the month progresses.
