The Consumer Protection Department of the Ministry of Business and Trade has issued a list of 105 food items to 10 major shopping outlets across the city, prescribing their selling price with instructions not to hike the rates during Ramadan.
The outlets that have been given the list are Carrefour, Lulu, Family Food Center, Giant Stores, Mega Mart, Dasman, Safari, Al Safeer, Duhail Shopping Complex and the Al Meera chain of cooperatives.
The Director of the Consumer Protection Department, Sheikh Jassem bin Hasan Al Thani, held meetings thrice with representatives from the above outlets to discuss the issue.
Sources from Family Food Center (FFC) told this newspaper they had decided to comply with the ministerial directive regarding the prices of all the 105 food items, which include rice, wheat flour, edible oil, eggs, butter and fresh milk.
“All these products are fast-moving and it is clear from the list supplied to us that the ministry has done tremendous research on what food items are of mass use,” said a source from FFC.
“Our management has, for example, decided to sell these items cost-to-cost and add some more products on our own,” he added.
Retailers claim that in these times of rising costs when freight, storage and salary overheads are getting bigger by the day it does not make business sense to sell fast-moving items at cost.
Although it is not binding on retailers or wholesalers to abide by the ministerial directive, since Qatar follows a free market policy and the prices are determined by market forces, the outlets have agreed not to raise the prices of essential commodities during the fasting month.
“The trade ministry is making such a request to us for the first time, so we are rather too willing to oblige. This will also help us retain our regular customers,” said the FFC source.
According to him, normally, the Director of the Consumer Protection Department does not attend meetings with retailers on such issues and leaves it to his subordinates to preside at such events. But the fact that Sheikh Jassem was personally present at the three meetings the Department held recently with representatives of the outlets over the issue of pricing during Ramadan showed the importance of this move, said the source.
He said during Ramadan major outlets store 30 to 40 percent more stocks of items like frozen chicken (especially packs of 1,000 and 1,200 grams), wheat flour, rice, 330ml mineral water bottles, dates and fresh mutton, among other things, since their demand goes up considerably during the holy month.
The list of food items issued by the Consumer Protection Department to major shopping centres across Doha, prescribing their selling prices during Ramadan to make sure the prices are not raised.
Name of the item Cost
price Selling price
Al Alai baking powder 100g 2.06 2.25
Foster Clarks Baking Powder 110g 2.50 2.50
Kuwait Flour all purpose 5kg 21.00 21.00
Qatar Flour Mills flour No.1 5kg 17.75 17.75
Qatar Flour Mills flour No.2 5kg 17.75 17.75
Qatar Flour No.3 (Whole Wheat Atta)5kg 23.00 23.00
Qatar Flour Mills Jereesh 2kg 7.50 7.50
Qatar Flour Mills Harees 2kg 7.34 7.50
Rose Brand White Sago Seed 2kg 10.00 10.00
Safa Semolina Tins (Suji) 500g 4.00 4.00
Maculex Semolina 500g 3.37 3.50
Foster Clark’s Corn Flour 400g 3.42 3.50
Safa Corn flour 400g 2.75 2.75
Alalali corn flour 2.96 3.00
Quaker White Oats pouch 500g 4.50 4.50
Alalali White Oats 500g/400g 5.25 5.25
Safa White Oats 500g 5.17 5.25
Foster Clarks Custard Powder 300g 3.62 3.75
Rabee Rose Water 430ml 5.00 5.00
Alalali Custard Powder 450g 5.00 5.00
Royal Custard Powder 340g 4.50 4.50
Safa Custard Powder 454g 3.50 3.50
Foster Clark’s Cream Caramel 71g 1.62 1.75
Royal Crème Caramel Original/Regular 1.87 2.00
Alalali Dumpling Mix With Yeast 453g 5.00 5.00
Greens Strawberry Jelly 80g 1.09 1.25
Foster Clarks Gelatin Cherry 85g 1.37 1.50
Alalali Gelatin Desert Orange 85g 1.18 1.25
Alalali Pineapple Sliced Syrup 567g 3.93 4.00
California Garden Fruit Cocktail 565g 5.00 5.00
Del Monte Fruit Cocktail in Syrup 420g 8.00 8.00
Puck Cream Pure & Natural 170g 2.77 2.75
Luna Cream Natural 170g 2.50 2.50
Al Marai Sterlised Cream 170g 3.18 3.25
KDD Thick Cream 250ml 3.75 3.75
Lurpak Butter Salted/Unsalted 400g 10.50 10.50
Al Marai Butter Salted/Unsalted 400g 10.00 10.00
Panzani Vermicelli 500g 4.34 4.50
Sipa Vermicelli 453g 4.00 4.00
Brookbond Red Label Tea 450g 12.25 12.25
Lipton Yellow Label Tea 450g 13.50 13.50
Al Kbous Tea 450g 9.00 9.00
Hi Tea 450g 8.00 8.00
Rabea Express Loose Tea 400g 10.50 10.50
Hyson Granulated Sugar 2kg 4.73 4.75
Hyson Granulated Refined Sugar 5kg 12.15 12.25
Tang Orange Flavour 2.5kg 35.34 35.50
Tang Orange Flavour 750g 11.67 11.75
Foster Clarks’ Oragne Drink 750g 10.47 10.50
Rasna International Inst Orange 750g 7.84 8.00
Vimto Fruit Cordial 710ml 8.09 8.25
Mazola Sunflower Oil 1.80ltr 16.75 16.75
Afia Corn Oil 1.8ltr 19.50 19.50
Ola Pure Corn Oil 2ltr 18.67 18.75
Coroli Corn Oil 1.8ltr 20.84 21.00
Karam Corn Oil 1.8ltr 15.75 15.75
Aseel Pure Ghee 1.8kg 46.67 47.00
Aseel Pure Ghee 900g 23.50 23.50
Aseel Pure Ghee 500g 12.71 13.00
Kelloggs Corn Flakes Original 500g 12.72 13.00
Nestle Corn Flakes Red Cereals 375g 8.25 8.25
Alshifa Honey Natural 500g 15.34 15.50
Hero Mixed Fruit Preserve 340g 8.17 8.25
Hero Strawberry Preserve 340g 8.17 8.25
Alalali Raspberry Jam 450g 5.34 5.50
Alalali Italian Spaghetti 400g 3.90 4.00
Panzani Spaghetti 500g 4.30 4.50
Kuwait Macroni Assorted 500g 2.75 2.75
Al Saudi Macaroni Assorted 400g 2.75 2.75
Tilda Basmathi Rice 10kg 139.00 139.50
Punjab Garden Supreme Basm Rice 5kg 32.50 32.50
Sun White Rice Australia 5kg 37.50 37.50
Homeline Egyptian Rice 5kg 32.00 32.00
Alalali Vine Leaves 908g 15.50 15.50
Libby’s tomato ketchup 340g 3.5 3.50
Alalali tomato Ketchup glass 340g 3.63 3.75
Heinz tomato ketchup 340g 4.33 4.5
Al Waha Frozen Chicken 1000g 12.75 12.75
Al Watania Chicken 1000g 12.00 12.00
Sadia Griller Chicken 1000g 11.00 11.00
Qatar Egg Small 30’s 9.50 9.50
Nestle Nido 2.5kg 63.00 63.00
Almarai Fresh Milk 2ltr 11.00 11.00
Nada Fresh Milk 2ltr 11.00 11.00
Ghadier Fresh Milk 2ltr 11.00 11.00
KDD tomato Paste 135g 8pcs pack 9.44 9.50
Nada tomato paste 135g 8pcs pack 7.04 7.25
Alalali Chicken Stock 22g 24pcs 11.67 11.75
Maggi Chicken Cubes (Stock) 22gm 24pcs 13.50 13.50
Indomie Chicken Noodles 70gm 5pcs pack 4.25 4.25
Sunbulah Filo Pastry Leaves 500g 6.00 6.00
Kraft Cheddar Cheese 250g 9.21 9.25
Almarai Halloumi Full Fat Cheese 225g 10.91 11.00
Kiri Portion Cheese 12pcs 240g 8.00 8.00
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