Prices of fruits and vegetables in the Prophet's City rose by 14 to 128 percent during this month compared to the prices during the same period last month. Potatoes topped the list with a price increase of SR26 to bring the price from SR21 to SR47; grapes rose by SR6 registering a 10 percent increase; plums registered an increase of 25 percent to bring the new price to SR20; and apricots now cost SR8. Other fruits and vegetables witnessed a clear drop in prices, as the price of a basket of tomatoes has decreased by 20 percent to settle at SR60; the price of okra decreased by 1.6 percent; the price of pomegranates dropped to SR60, a 10-percent decrease; and lemons dropped by 16 percent, to SR40. Prices of other products remained stable. The price (per carton) of garlic is still at SR25, pepper is at SR36, onions at SR12, sweet melon at SR30, watermelon at SR30, beans at SR30, carrots at SR15, eggplant at SR27, cucumber at SR48, zucchini at SR48, peaches at SR16, apples at SR133, oranges at SR30, and bananas at SR72. The summer is a season for many vegetables and fruits, which often results in supply exceeding demand and sellers throwing the rotting surplus in the the vegetable market's dumpsters. Meanwhile, the Daily Consumer Commodities Price Index issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has registered the absence of 13 supply commodities. Abu Bint and Abu Suyoof brands of rice in 40-kg bags and Al-Usra fine sugar in 50-kg bags were not available in the list of shops subject to the index calculation. Cardamom and coffee beans are not easy to find; Al-Kholani coffee beans could only be found in one supermarket and Bashanfar Lagamti and Harari coffee were unavailable. Chinese cardamom and Indian cardamom, both Rehana and Farhana, were not available. American No.1 cardamom was found in two supermarkets and American cardamom No.2 was found in one. Large supermarkets subject to the index have stopped selling imported chilled Australian meat and locally slaughtered Al-Ne'aimi mutton, according to a statement from the ministry. The index registered a five-fold rise in prices of Al-Waleema rice (40 kg), to SR219.33; Abu Kas rice to SR211; and Al-Sha'lan rice to SR204.33. Commodities that registered the lowest prices included Saudi white flour weighing 2 kg for SR2 and 5-kg bags for 4.75; Wadi Fatima 170 milliliters of liquid milk for SR2.08; and Boni and Abu Qows for SR2.45. __
