Basmati rice prices down by almost 62% in the UAE

Basmati rice prices have fallen between 41 per cent and 62 per cent over past few months until yesterday, a senior official at the Ministry of Economy has told Emirates Business.

"The price of a 20kg bag of Tilda rice fell by 62 per cent from Dh340 to Dh210. The 20kg bag of Sinara Basmati Rice fell by 41 per cent from Dh275 to Dh195. The 5kg bag of Egyptian rice dropped by 59 per cent from Dh39 to Dh25. Other kinds of rice from the United States, Thailand or the Philippines fell by more than 40 per cent," said Dr Hashim Al Nuaimi, Director of the MoE's Consumer Protection Department.

He said prices of other basic commodities such as sugar, flour, oils and dry milk, also fell by 15-25 per cent. "The next couple of days will witness more price falls. In addition, many co-operative societies and supermarkets are set to announce weekly reduction of prices."

On the issue of rising prices of vegetables and fruits over the past two days after they fell in the previous two months, Dr Al Nuaimi said: "The prices of many vegetables and fruits have started to rise. The reason is that the season of these vegetables and fruits such as tomato have ended. This has affected the amount of imported quantities. Moreover, stock of locally produced essentials and Oman's vegetables have finished. A lot of vegetables will see price increases in the summer months. But the MoE will do its best to control any unjustifiable rise in prices.

"The MoE has asked inspectors to intensify visits to all markets in the UAE to monitor any price violations and issue fines."

On the date of holding of the next meeting of Higher Committee for Consumer Protection, which will determine the beginning of the third phase of the MoE's plan to reduce the prices, Dr Al Nuaimi said: "The meeting date is not determined yet. But the MoE is keen to apply all the phases to reduce prices of commodities so that they follow rates in the countries' of origin. The MoE is also co-ordinating with economic departments at the different emirates to intensify measure to stop shops from selling commodities at unacceptable prices."

Dr Al Nuaimi called consumers to inform the MoE about any unjustifiable price increases. "The MoE has issued more than 1,400 fines to violators. It will continue its policy to curb prices and any help on this front from consumers is good."

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