Meat prices to be cut in Ramadan

Consumers in the UAE will pay less for meat during the upcoming fasting month of Ramadan in line with a new government initiative to be announced within the next two weeks, an official was reported on Saturday as saying.

The ministry of economy is sponsoring the initiative in collaboration with farms and major meat suppliers in the second largest Arab economy.

“We are preparing for a new initiative to reduce the prices of meat during Ramadan…the initiative is in cooperation with farms and key meat suppliers in the UAE and will be announced within the next two weeks,” said Hashim Al Nuaimi, director of the ministry’s consumer protection division.

Nuaimi did not specify the rate of reduction on meat prices during Ramadan, when demand for food and other consumer products sharply increase.

Ramadan is due to begin at the start of August the prices of scores of products are expected to either decline or remain unchanged through the year as part of a Dh200-million landmark initiative spearheaded by the ministry of economy to stabilize prices of most consumer products.

Nuaimi said inspectors from the ministry and other government departments would visit cooperative societies and other key shopping outlets to ensure compliance with that initiative, adding that all of them have been asked to display lists of the new prices before the end of this month. “This measure is intended to prevent any fraud attempts by dealers,” he said.

Nuaimi said the ministry would also hold a series of meetings with major food suppliers in the next few days to discuss measures to prevent any sudden shortage of consumer items during Ramadan.

In a statement last week, the ministry of economy said more than 700 consumer items have been included in a list of products that will not see any price hikes this year. Key items include Basmati rice, milk powder, meat, frozen chicken, tea, juices and bottled water, olive oil, salt, soap, garbage bags and other products.

“The items included in the list targeted by the price stability initiative now exceed 700 compared with around 400 at the start of the month,” Nuaimi said.

“We are now awaiting three more initiatives by the cooperative societies including discounts of between 20 and 50 per cent, sale of some items at cost price and sale at purchasing price…we expect to receive these initiative in July and they will remain valid until the end of this year.”

Nuaimi said the price stabilization initiative would be enforced by major shopping outlets through the UAE as they will display the “fixed price” logo on all the products included in the price campaign.

Inspectors from the ministry have already been deployed through the market to ensure all outlets comply with the initiative, which the ministry says is intended to ease the financial burden on consumers and curb market manipulations.

The initiative, the first of its kind in the Arab world, means that the prices of more than 700 key consumer items will remain unchanged through 2011 no matter what direction these prices takes worldwide.

“This initiative is the largest to be taken by the UAE concerning consumer prices…it will cost us around Dh200 million and is meant to stabilize the market and protect domestic consumers,” Nuaimi said.

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