Retailers face fines for price rise in Ramadan

Retailers face fines of up to Dh20,000 if they raise food prices fixed by Ministry of Economy (MoE) during Ramadan.

Dubai Economic Department has promised to ensure the food prices would be reasonable and static during the holy month through its series of planned inspection campaigns across the retail outlets in the emirate, Gulf News reported.

Quoting Abdullah Al Shehi, Director of Commercial Protection at DED, Gulf News reported that the DED would launch at least 15 inspection campaigns during Ramadan, which begins from August.

Inspectors will monitor prices and if retailers are found guilty of unapproved price hike, they will be penalised according to the number and degree of violations.

Preparing for the hectic month ahead, the DED is already working to make sure there are enough stocks of various commodities and food items, going into the month.

Working together, DED and MoE last week met vendors and wholesalers at the fruit and vegetable market in Aweer, asking them not to let supplies run low and to keep prices fixed during Ramadan.

Every year, food prices jump drastically as the demand rises during the holy month and supplies dwindle, causing problems for many. Firm on not letting that happen this time around, the DED has planned to start the drive a month in advance.

Visiting warehouses and manufactures as well as monitoring the supply chains, the authorities are trying to ensure quality of products apart from keeping the prices reasonable.

In July, officials are planning 10 inspections of warehouses storing food supplies to monitor cheating on product expiry dates and on descriptions or duplicates, Al Shehi informed.

This month inspectors are focusing on the consistency of prices between major retail outlets and small groceries. "Other shops like groceries should not exploit these products [by] buying them from the retail outlets then raise their prices at the groceries. There will be monitoring of this issue," he said.

Groceries may be fined up to Dh10,000 for this consumer exploitation, he added.

The DED has a team of 80 inspectors covering Dubai with planned and random inspections. The number of visits depends on the changes in the market, he said.

As the global food prices increase coupled by the mounting cost of logistics, retailers are putting pressure on the authorities to increase prices, claiming that their profit margins are being squeezed.

However, Al Shehi said the Supreme Council for Consumer Protection has the final say on prices and retailers must justify the reasons for a price increase considering factors such as rent, global prices and tightening profit margins.

In the long run, one of the suggestions to control the prices is to fix the costs of basic commodities.

Retail outlets across the country have agreed to fix the cost of hundreds of commodities — including chicken, sugar, vegetable oil and tea bags — in a bid to fulfil their corporate social responsibilities.

The campaign, which runs until December 31, features 70 outlets in the UAE including branches of Carrefour, Spinneys, Lulu Hypermarket and the cooperative societies.

The prices have been divided into three categories: some outlets are fixing commodity prices regardless of fluctuations in the market, some retailers are reducing the cost of selected goods to 50 per cent and others are fixing prices at purchase cost.

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