18 Oct 2006
Dubai: The sweet-toothed among us looking to make a saving on our favourite treats would be well advised to consult this week's government price list.
Items such as ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate bars have been included in the most recent Ministry of Economy price basket, while only two types of fruit and one vegetable made the list.
Click here to see the prices of selected commodities (pdf)
In Dubai, Igloo Vanilla Ice Cream was a full Dh3.50 cheaper at LuLu Hypermarkets than at Union Cooperative and just over Dh2.50 less than Carrefour. Prices were almost identical in Abu Dhabi supermarkets included in the list, but there were savings to be made in the other emirates.
Shoppers for US sourced Dream Whip could find more competitive prices in Dubai's Union Coop where the item was at least Dh1 less than in Lulu and Carrefour stores.
However, Abu Dhabi Coop bucked the trend with prices more than Dh1.50 over those of its competitors.
The only other significant discrepancies were in Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah.
Syrian kumruddin, an apricot snack, was consistently priced throughout the UAE. A carton of Kit Kat chocolate bars was mostly priced at about Dh28, with the exception of Dubai's Carrefour (Dh37.50) and Lulu (Dh24.50).
Pringle crisps, another of the nation's favourite snacks, were evenly priced, as was Royal Creme Caramel imported from Spain.
Some of the UAE's most popular drinks were included in this week's list. A 12 pack of Masafi mineral water was almost identically priced in Abu Dhabi, but in Dubai LuLu beat Carrefour by Dh2.27. However, Dubai's Carrefour offered the UAE's best prices for Al Rawabi orange juice and Saudi Arabian Vimto.
Ramadan always sees high consumption of nuts a natural source of energy. Some significant prices differences throughout the country were found for both US almonds and unsalted cashews imported from India.
By Robert Ditcham
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
