Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Economy has made an elaborate plan to monitor the food market in the UAE during Ramadan to control prices, a top official told Gulf News.
The ministry has fixed prices of many food products and a mechanism is in place to ensure that retailers are strictly following the related instructions, Dr Hashim Al Nuaimi, Head of Consumer Protection Unit at the Ministry of Economy, said.
“We are monitoring the prices in all retail outlets across the country ahead of Ramandan and will continue to do so during Ramandan and Eid,” he said.
Al Nuaimi said 90 per cent of the consumer products in the UAE market are imported from more than a 100 countries. Monitoring the price of each and every item is a herculean task. “Still we are trying our best to implement the mechanism to keep the prices stable,” he said.
Those who violate the ministry’s instructions will be penalised as per the law numbers 24 of 2006 and 27 of 2011, which stipulate a maximum fine of Dh1 million. However, in some cases, the fine may range between Dh100,000 and Dh200,000.
The UAE cabinet has set up a committee to look into the charges against the retailers, Al Nuaimi said. The committee has the authority to reduce the fines by up to 50 per cent.
During Ramadan last year, the ministry was able to fix the prices for the highest number of products in its history – around 800.
“This year, we want to increase that number to more than a 1,000. We have made agreements with more than 300 retailers across the country to implement fixed prices for food products, especially vegetable, meat and chicken,” the official said.
People can call up the ministry’s call centre 6005222225 to register complaints. The call centre has 20 lines to receive calls from the public, Al Nuaimi said.
