Dubai: Prices of essential commodities are expected to increase at a much slower rate than in recent months as authorities take action to limit the impact of cascading inflation on consumers, executives at supermarkets said yesterday.
"Prices are now more or less under control. Hopefully, the worst is behind us. Any further rise in prices are likely to be moderate as the municipality is keeping a close eye on price movements of essential items such as rice, wheat flour, edible oil and milk powder," said Lalit, branch manager at Choithram in Abu Dhabi.
Shyam Bambani, general manager of Al Maya Supermarket, however, said that the egg prices are a matter of concern as they are going up almost every other day.
"The egg prices are going up for all sizes due to the rising winter season demand. They have gone up by almost 40 per cent compared with the prices last month," he said, adding that the municipality is regularly conducting price checks.
Sidhu, an executive at Spinneys in Dubai said that the prices of rice, edible oil and detergents has gone up substantially during the last three months, though price of fruits and vegetables have remained more or less at a standstill.
Supply constraints
The executives said the prices of essential commodities have gone up primarily because of the suppliers threatening to pull out amid squeezed profitability and increasing costs.
Retailers, however, said the prices of rice, wheat, cooking oil and milk powder continue to be under pressure as suppliers are citing increased production and transportation costs, insufficient crop and an uptrend in domestic and overseas demand as reasons for raising prices.
The UAE Ministry of Economy has intervened whenever prices have seemed to get out of control.
The Consumer Protection Department of the ministry takes stock of the price situation regularly.
When contacted by Gulf News, Abdullah Al Saleh, under secretary in the Ministry of Economy, declined to comment on the price outlook for essential commodities in 2008.
By Himendra Mohan, Kumar
© Gulf News 2008
