Saeed Haider

Saudi Gazette



DAMMAM — There is no consistency in pricing at supermarkets and grocers in the Eastern Province when it comes to consumer items, including daily edibles such as vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, grain and even beverages, complained consumers.



The hypermarkets as well as large supermarkets have largely retained consistency in the pricing of the routine food products but medium and small markets, where bulk purchases are made, have arbitrarily hiked the prices of their products on the shelves, it was claimed.



The biggest price rises have affected vegetables and fruit.



American apples, for example, are sold for SR8.50 to SR9 at a small supermarket compared to SR7.50 at a hypermarket.



The fruit and vegetables most in demand are watermelon, oranges, tangerine, bananas, apple, pears, plums, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, coriander, onions, cucumbers and carrots.



The prices of all these items have skyrocketed at all supermarkets, said consumers.



However, the most interesting scene is at Dammam vegetable market where at every shop one will witness intense bargaining going on.



Shoppers often do not realize that even if they get a discount, they usually end up paying the correct market price in the first place because the sellers had already hiked their prices.



Abdulaziz Al-Khamis, a vegetable shop owner in Dammam, said: “Ramadan is a business time. I don’t want to earn illegal profit but obviously I am running a business and not a charity.



“I have to earn profits and because I know that bargaining is inherent in our culture, I do hike prices to allow me to meet buyers’ demands.”



The prices of meat have gone up by 15 to 25 percent depending on the quality of the stock.



The price of Naeemi meat has jumped from SR65 to SR70 a kilogram, while Indian and Pakistani meat has also gone up from SR33 to SR37.50.



Fahd Al-Subehi, an angry shopper in Al-Khobar who works for a multinational group in Jubail, said: “It is a very tough time. The prices of all commodities are too heavy on our pocket and purchasing for Ramadan is now above our buying capacity.



“Previously, we never looked at the prices of edibles and other groceries but now they are beyond what we can pay.”



The only place where a consumer will have some respite is the fish market, as prices there are stable and in some cases lower than previous months.



The extreme weather conditions are the main cause of price declines in fish.



In high temperatures, a lot of the fish goes bad and shopkeepers want to sell them even at cost.



It is for this reason that there is a huge influx of buyers at the fish market this year.



“It is some relief, but we cannot eat raw fish. We need oil and other ingredients to cook them and all of them are costly,” said consumer Mohamed Al-Furaih, who called on authorities to monitor the market and take stringent action against those who raise prices unfairly.