Abu Dhabi vows to check prices in Ramadan

Abu Dhabi authorities pledged yesterday to tighten their grip on key shopping outlets in the emirate to prevent sharp increases in food and other consumer prices during Ramadan.

The Abu Dhabi Department of Planning and Economy (DPE) said it will publish a list of 177 food and consumer items on a weekly basis at major marketing outlets to ensure they stick to the defined prices.

In its weekly report, DPE said regular visits by its inspectors to supermarkets and co-operative societies had resulted in the decline of the food price index in the last week of August after it had surged to its highest level in the second week.

"The statistics division of the Department has agreed with the commercial protection section to monitor prices weekly to protect consumers, especially during Ramadan," DPE said.

"DPE teams are continuing their visits and inspections of various shopping outlets and these visits have resulted in stabilising prices of food and other consumer items. For example, they responded to consumers' complaints about a surge in rice prices and held a series of meetings with rice suppliers, and prices were lowered at some outlets."

According to the report, the food prices index has sharply fluctuated over the past two months before declining last week.

"The index rose to 20.17 in the fourth week of June but declined to 19.77 in July as a result of DPE efforts. It then rose by 3.5 per cent because of the increase in some seasonal products, mainly fruit and vegetable, as well as fish due to lower supply… but the index declined again from 20.47 to 20.06 in the third week of August and by 1.19 per cent to 19.82 in the last week of August."

In its report last week, DPE said a sharp rise in fish prices was the main cause of the fluctuations in the index over the past three months and cited some fish suppliers as blaming high costs of ice and transport of some types of fish from Dubai for the large increase in local fish prices. It also blamed rising temperatures for low supply due to immigration of some types of fish.

"The DPE statistics division has selected a long list of food items and set prices for them. So it will closely monitor the price movement on a weekly basis during Ramadan. The list includes all the food needs of consumers and the index will be published on a weekly basis during Ramadan," it said.

DPE launched Abu Dhabi's first regular consumer price index comprising more than 50 food items last month and said the index would be updated and made available on a weekly basis on its website and main shopping outlets.

The index for June and May showed there was a surge in prices of rice, fish and meat but the price of most other listed items recorded relative stability, indicating recent agreements between the UAE Government and major marketing outlets have succeeded in controlling prices of many consumer products.

In July first week, the index rose to 19.51 and maintained its upward trend in the second week before climbing down in the third week. It then jumped in the fourth week and continued to fluctuate during August.

"In a bid to maintain consumer awareness, the DPE has launched the CPI, which is a vital project that will help create a positive and competitive climate for prices in Abu Dhabi," it said.