UAE | General
Bakery protest keeps bread off Fujairah shelves
For the second day running, small bakeries have stopped supplying grocery shops over a price dispute with the municipality.
- By Fuad Ali, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:18 November 14, 2007
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Fujairah: For the second day running, small bakeries have stopped supplying grocery shops over a price dispute with the municipality.
A number of bakeries have already hiked the price of Arabic bread to Dh3, after getting approval from the municipality's consumer protection department.
The dispute started after the consumer protection department insisted on vetting each bakery's price list. The municipality had ordered small bakers to roll back their prices until the case of each bread-maker is assessed.
But a number of bakeries have stopped supply to groceries in protest.
Bakers cite a steep increase in flour prices, along with other costs of labour and transport, as the main reason for rising prices.
In a statement, Rashid Hamdan, Director of Fujairah Municipality, has referred to a ruling by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to cap any price increase to a maximum of 20 per cent.
"According to the ministry ruling, no price increase is permitted without the approval of the relevant authorities. A number of bakeries have been summoned for questioning and ordered to roll back their prices until further notice," he said.
Abdullah Khalaf from the municipality's consumer protection department said: "We want to visit each bakery to assess their claim by looking at production and overhead costs before any increase is approved."
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