Dubai: Fruits stay cheap mid-week, but price of some staple vegetables and fish edge up!

Dubai: Fruits stayed cheaper halfway through this week after staying pricier than usual in the last few weeks. However, some staple vegetables stayed at a comparatively higher price level and fish prices ticked up.

When analysing price changes seen since last week, as expected, the changes that were seen in the costs of most grocery items, including the price of fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood, were not all that significant - except for a few.

While the cost of most poultry variants stayed in check, like frozen chicken and eggs, the cost of fresh chicken stayed at higher price level after rising nearly Dh2 per kilogram last week, but it would be received well that prices have not risen any further since.

When it came to fish prices, although most prices edged up slightly, the cost of small shrimp turned volatile before turning lower, making it an ideal time to stock up on some shrimp!

Fish prices edge up, stock up on shrimp

Although the cost of most seafood stayed largely the same last week, the cost of most fish variants edged up slightly since. So, if you were looking to protect yourself from any future price increases, now would be the ideal time to stock up or try cooking up a seafood dish!

When studying the trend of seafood prices, the cost of a few popular fish variants that were constantly seen fluctuating in prior weeks, like Hammour and Seabass, stayed in check.

Another good news for those seafood-lovers is that the price of a kilo of small shrimp, which had dropped Dh5.6 on over a week back, remained more or less unchanged since! Although at the the start of this week, the cost had spiked about Dh8 momentarily, it has dropped back to lower price levels, and remains to do so even at the start of this week.

Cost of vegetables steady, fruits stay cheap

The price of vegetables like onions and tomatoes – the common staples in almost every household – in previous months have kept fluctuating back and forth.

However, it was observed that in the previous three weeks, cost of the two items saw little to any change. At the start of last week there was a slight spike of 30 fils for a kilogram of tomatoes, but prices stayed in check since, so did the cost of onions.

While the daily per kilogram cost of potatoes rose slightly last week, the prices stayed the same since, and the cost of cucumbers stayed low. But when analysing the price change with the drop seen last week, vegetables have stayed largely cheap and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get some grocery shopping done before the weekend rush!

Moreover, as fruits like bananas and apples have been staying cheaper, after having risen a couple of weeks back, go ahead and stock up on those too.

Key highlights pertaining to price changes that were seen halfway through the week:

The cost of fresh chicken rose Dh1.8 during the start of last week, and has stayed unchanged since. A kilo now costs Dh13.9. The cost of eggs and frozen chicken stayed the same.

When coming to seafood, the cost of Seabass and Hammour stayed largely unchanged at the start of the week. A kilo of Seabream has been costing Dh35 for the last couple of weeks, fluctuated at the start of this week, but stabilised to previous price levels. Also, the cost of Hammour, which has a starting cost of Dh66, stayed the same since.

The cost of a kilogram of Salmon is now at Dh39.9, rising Dh10 after staying cheap last week. The price of Kingfish rose to Dh44.9, from Dh38.9 per kilogram last week.

However, the cost of small-sized shrimp, after dropping over a week back, stayed cheap at the start of this week. It now costs Dh26.9, further dropping from a brief spike to Dh32.3 seen at the start of last week. So, consider picking up some shrimp ahead of this weekend, which will be easy on your pocket.

When it comes to fruits, apples now cost Dh5 per kilogram and stayed cheap, edging up from Dh4.8 at the start of this week, back to the price level seen last week. When it comes to a kilogram of lime, after slipping Dh1 from a couple of weeks back, stayed steady at Dh4.9 per kilogram. However, the price of bananas fell 50fils from last week and now stays priced at Dh3.5.

The cost of lettuce – which often fluctuates – is now priced at Dh5 for a kilogram, and has not changed last week and the start of this week as well.