By IANS
Dubai : Fears of a fresh bird flu outbreak have sent prices of basic goods in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) soaring by up to 50 percent.
Suppliers of basic goods have called upon the country’s ministry of economy to go for price regulation, according to local media reports.
“Our prices have been the same for the past two months. We are not the ones who increase prices. It’s the markets that increase them and that’s because no one regulates them or controls them. They blame it on us,” Mahmoud Fawaz, general manager of Dana Poultry Farm, a major supplier of eggs, told the Gulf News newspaper.
A tray of 30 eggs, which cost 13 dirhams ($3.5) in December last year, now costs 18 dirhams (almost $5). For imported eggs, the price has gone up from 17 dirhams in December to 27 dirhams Jan 31.
Local eggs meet only 45 percent of the country’s demand and a ban on import of eggs from India and Saudi Arabia has led to a shortage of 55 percent in the retail market.
However, the authorities here have ruled out price regulation as of now.
“We are not going to regulate prices. We only interfere if the item has a monopoly in the market or if there is an unjustified increase,” the newspaper quoted Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy Abdullah Al Salah as saying.
With India concentrating on meeting domestic demand, prices of rice have also shot up drastically.
“Indian production is not sufficient for the Indian population, let alone other countries. Most of the UAE’s rice comes from India. We have rice in stock but the prices just keep rising,” rice-purchasing manager of KM Trading Abdul Hakeem told the Gulf News.
Prices of Egyptian rice have also rocketed since that country banned exports of rice Jan 19 to control its price within the country.
However, according to the newspaper, the ministry of economy still believes that there is no need to control prices of Egyptian rice.
KM Trading’s Hakeem said prices of rice would definitely rise by at least another 30 percent this month.