Hypermarkets in Dubai hiked essential foods prices before Ramadan

The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) Division in the Department of Economic Development (DED) has alerted the Ministry of Economy after it was found that certain hypermarkets in Dubai had increased the prices of essential foodstuff shortly before Ramadan.

Omar Bushahab, Chief Executive Officer of the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Division, said that DED had been monitoring the prices of essential food stuff over the 15 days up to Ramadan and noticed price increases varying from two per cent to 50 per cent on items such as flour, cooking oil, sugar, fruits, vegetables, poultry, lamb and veal.

“The Department of Economic Development has sent a letter to the Ministry of Economy requesting appropriate action on such price increases as it falls under the Ministry’s mandate. In the meantime the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Division will implement all possible measures to ensure that consumers in Dubai continue to get all essential foodstuffs at fair prices,” said Bushahab.

“Monitoring consumer prices is an integral part of our efforts to protect consumer rights and maintain harmonious relations between traders and consumers in Dubai. We work closely with retail outlets and also take necessary action on consumer complaints,” Bushahab added.

Visits conducted by CCCP inspectors to prominent hypermarkets revealed a 2-8 per cent in prices of frozen poultry, lamb and veal while fish prices had gone up by 12 per cent. Sugar prices showed a 39 per cent increase and fruits and vegetables had become costlier by 50 per cent in some of these outlets.

“There were also retail outlets that showed remarkable social responsibility by reducing or locking the prices of essential foodstuff. These outlets had in fact reduced prices of items like fresh chicken, frozen chicken, lamb and flour by up to 77 per cent,” said Bushahab.