|
Abu Dhabi: Major supermarkets and retailers said on Wednesday they are holding prices steady for essential commodities such as cereals, milk and milk products and edible oils during Ramadan, but added that their suppliers continue to exert pressure on them to raise prices.
"We have locked the prices of products which are monitored by the Ministry of Economy. The products include edible oil, cereals, milk and milk products," Nanda Kumar, a spokesman for the LuLu Hypermarket chain told Gulf News.
He said some of the poultry suppliers wanted them to raise the price of fresh chicken which is capped at Dh16 per kg.
"We categorically told them that there will be no price increase during Ramadan."
Kumar claimed the ministry found LuLu's prices to be the most reasonable.
The CEO for Spinneys, Johannes C.F. Holtzhausen, said their prices will remain unchanged during Ramadan.
"I do not change prices because it is Ramadan. We have never done that and we will never do it," said Holtzhausen.
An executive for Choithram told Gulf News that they are not increasing prices of commodities for which the ministry has fixed price ceilings, but prices are increasing for items outside the list.
"We have to do it as our margins are under tremendous pressure," he said.
Some customers, however, are sceptical of the claims made by the supermarkets.
Chaudhary Arshad, a resident of Abu Dhabi claimed that some supermarkets have kept some prices stable, but reduced the weight of items, which customers rarely notice.
"I was shocked to find that the weight of a kilogram pack of chickpea, which I normally buy, reduced to 750 grams, even though its price remained the same," he said.
|
