According to stores that sell herbal medicines and perfumes, the majority of their customers tend to be women who buy skin and hair products. Internet forums that cater to Saudis are also replete with information about such products with traders also advertising door-to-door services.
Although such stores exist across Jeddah, the majority are located in the downtown area of the city. Some traders mix their own herbs, and prices vary according to ingredients and their countries of origin.
“I’ve been working in this trade for over 20 years,” said Abdul Qadir, a Yemeni salesman at a herbal shop in Jeddah’s downtown district. “We sell spices, herbs, oils and different types of cosmetic products. I bring along my two sons during the school holidays to also work here and learn the trade,” he added.
Abdul Qadir has an high school education, but he claims one needs little education to run a herbal shop. “You need experience. You need to understand the herbs and know which herb is good for what,” he said.
Asked whether he mixes herbs and creates his own formulas, Abdul Qadir said this is not the case. “We buy herbs that are pre-packed. The only thing we mix is the hair oil that we sell,” he said.
Another shopkeeper in Jeddah’s downtown district, who refused to give his name, said the shop he works at is a family-run business that has been operating for decades. “We go to India, Lebanon and Thailand in search of cosmetics and herbal products. We also buy brands that our loyal costumers suggest,” he said, adding that people who visit his shop tend to be from the Kingdom’s rural areas and African countries.
“During the Umrah and Haj seasons, we get more foreign costumers buying large quantities which they resell in their home countries. Africans tend to mainly buy whitening creams and Arabic perfumes, and ask for specific brands,” he added.
Mazin Al-Ismaeel, spokesman for the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), said his organization banned and seized 30 unauthorized products sold at such shops last year. “For a year now we’ve been monitoring herbal products and other drugs sold at these shops through the National Center for Drug Awareness,” said Al-Ismaeel.
Asked why the SFDA does not check products before allowing them to enter the Kingdom, he said, “Many drugs have side effects. However, not all side effects can be detected at an early stage immediately after use or when a small sample is tested. Once products enter the market, there is a better chance to discover the side effects.”
Al-Ismaeel added that the SFDA receives complaints about pharmaceutical products from members of the public through a hot line that has been running for a year now. “We receive complaints regarding the side effects of medicines, herbs, supplementary foods, and skin care products. We also receive calls about the inefficiency of some products and calls about fake drugs or other items that are being sold illegally in the Saudi market,” he said, adding action is taken when calls are received.
Speaking about how the SFDA monitors the local market, Al-Ismaeel said: “We tend to pick a number of random samples from the market as well from consignments arriving at the Jeddah Islamic Port, which we take to laboratories for tests. We also keep a close watch on companies that are known to violate our rules.”
