Ras Al Khaimah, August 30: Although many consumers in Ras Al Khaimah and other emirates have experienced some relief due to government’s efforts to curb any rise in prices of food products and basic commodities during Ramadan, scores of families in the remote areas of Sham in northern Ras Al Khaimah have complained of an increase in prices since the beginning of Ramadan.
Mohammed Ghaneim, a resident of Sham, said commercial outlets in the area have increased prices of different products since the beginning of Ramadan. “Many traders have utilised the rise in demand for food products and other basic commodities during the Holy month of Ramadan to hike their prices and cheat people,” he said.
He said poor families were being affected by the arbitrary price increases as many of them could not afford to buy some of the highly priced products.
Ahmed Yuosuf, an Emirati and head of a big family in Sham, said there was a need for the authorities to establish cooperative societies and hypermarkets in their region. This, he said, would ensure residents enjoy cheaper prices, especially during the month of Ramadan and also save residents from greedy retailers and arbitrary increase in prices.
“Remote areas like ours have no big hypermarkets to give big discounts on different products and put commodities on promotions during Ramadan. Many families have to buy products at high prices from the small retail outlets in the area, which include small supermarkets and grocery shops. Some of us cannot travel more than 30km to the towns to visit hypermarkets and buy commodities at cheap prices,” added Yousuf.
He said that although the Ministry of Economy had agreed with traders and key supermarkets in the emirate to offer discounts on food products and not to increase prices during Ramadan, some traders in the remote areas have not shown the necessary cooperation.
Prior to the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan, almost all major hypermarkets in Ras Al Khaimah, including Carrefour, Safeer, Lulu and others, announced various Ramadan promotions to cut down prices of fresh fruits and vegetables, cooking oil, rice, meat, flour, eggs, spices and other basic products.
Meanwhile, fish consumers in Ras Al Khaimah have also complained of traders’ non-compliance with the laws as they have hiked the prices of fish in the markets since the beginning of Ramadan.
Fishermen and traders have attributed the increase in prices of fish to the shortage of fish as a result of summer when more fish take refuge in the deep waters and fewer fishermen venture out to sea.
The price of a kilo of cherries has increased from Dh15 to Dh30 while that of a kilo of Safi has gone up to Dh30 from Dh20.
A senior officer from the Department of Economic Development said that in their recent visits to various commercial outlets and markets in the emirate, many traders were found complying with the laws, a few traders were penalised and others warned for hiking prices.
–Agencies