Fresh food prices in Dubai fall 4.1% in April

As part of its overall Consumer Price Index monitoring system, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has introduced the monthly Fresh Food Price Index (FPPI) containing the price indices for fresh meat, fish and sea foods, fruits and vegetables.

The April results of the FPPI is based on a collection of 595 price quotations acquired from Dubai’s main fish and vegetable market, major hypermarkets as well as from smaller but easily accessible groceries.

Targeting businesses and consumers, this latest initiative tracks prices for fresh food items by comparing their monthly as well as year-on-year price changes that would serve as a reference for all the chambers’ stakeholders.

The latest April fresh food price index indicates a drop of 4.1 per cent in comparison to the month of March and a 1.8 per cent slide from the previous year.

On a year-on-year basis, average price index for fresh food dropped, registering an average inflation rate of -1.8 per cent, with price index for fresh vegetables registering the largest drop of 8.2 per cent. Price index for fresh fruits also dropped, though at lower rate of 1.6 per cent. On the other hand, price index for fresh meat rose by 1.8 per cent, while for fresh fish and sea foods, by 1.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, all price indices indicated month-on-month slowing down, with average inflation rate for fresh food dropping by 4.1 per cent in April. Largest decline in the price index was noted for fresh fruits, at 6.3 per cent; followed by fresh meat, at 4.5 per cent; fresh fish and sea foods, at 3.6 per cent; and fresh vegetables, at 1.7 per cent.