Sales and demand in the current Saudi market do not reflect the frenzied Ramadan shopping during previous years, according to salesmen in municipal markets and operators of supermarkets. “The market is relatively inactive, and we are experiencing normal buying from consumers who seem not to be spending more this Ramadan,” said Sayed Salim, general manager of Farm 9 in Al-Khobar. He said that it was only on Thursdays and Fridays that people were shopping and that even then there were not many of them. Despite the fact that prices of basic commodities, such as cooking oil and sugar, have gone down, people are not buying much, Salim said. “The only consumer products that have gone up in price are fruits and vegetables, particularly those locally produced,” he said. He said Saudi tomatoes are now priced at SR35 per carton, or about SR10 per kilo. Other local products are also relatively high. He added that because local produce is expensive, imported products are now preferred. “Turkish tomatoes cost only SR4 per kilo, therefore the Saudi tomatoes are left without many buyers.” At the Dammam vegetable markets, there are only a handful of buyers on weekdays. “Only those who run small baqalas, who are reselling products purchased from us, are coming to shop,” said Ahmad Saeed, a farmer from Qatif. Supermarket owners have also observed this downturn in Ramadan shopping this year. “From Saturday to Thursday, the situation is normal marketing, not the rush of buying we experienced during previous years. The economic downturn is definitely affecting demand and spending,” a sales supervisor of a chain of superstores in the Eastern Province said. “It is also because of the fact that one-third of the population is still out of the country and is expected to return to the Kingdom only after the Eid and before the opening of schools,” Salim said. He said that after the Eid holidays and the opening of schools, there could be a resurgence in the market. “We in the supermarket business are not very encouraged by the current trend in the market, but what can we do. Money is tight; people are economizing and saving, and sacrificing the luxury and free spending that they enjoyed in previous Ramadan seasons.”
