Traders at the central fruit and vegetable market at Al Aweer say the prices of some fruit have gone up by a few dirhams as they have stopped receiving containers from Lebanon due to the crisis there.
Jahangir Alam of Ghulam Ali Ahmed Trading Company told Emirates Today: "We used to receive a box of oranges for Dh23, and now the price is about Dh28. Prices of peaches, cherries and apricots have also gone up." Alam said that the market had about three to four containers of fruit from Lebanon, all of which will be sold in the local markets in the next couple of days.
"Containers from Lebanon have stopped coming.We have already started looking at Syria and Iran for sending us fruit. But the prices are going to increase further," warned Ahmed.
Mohammed Iqbal, a young Bangladeshi trader, said: "We are running at a loss as the retailers won't buy from us at such high rates." Lebanon is one of the major suppliers of fresh fruit and some vegetables to the UAE and other GCC states.
Last week Emirates Today reported that the prices of potatoes and some fruit that are being imported from Lebanon would increase.
Kadar Mohideen, one of the helpers at the market's unloading dock, had said that the daily supply of 25 to 30 containers of potatoes from Lebanon had dwindled to less than 10. Now the containers have stopped arriving.
By Shabina Khan
© Emirates Today 2006
