Saudi firms asked to roll back milk prices

Riyadh: Saudis are increasing pressure on dairy producing companies to bring fresh milk prices back to their pre-January 3 levels.

Effective January 3, prices of milk in the Kingdom were increased by 20 per cent, raising alarm among Saudis and expatriate workers alike.

A popular campaign began last week calling for the boycott of fresh milk in a bid to force producing companies to lower prices. The campaigners are using the internet and mobile text messages to rally support.

Last week, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Hashim Yamani, met with representatives of local milk producing companies to convince them to lower the prices to their earlier rates.

The ministry said in a recent report that prices of food products could rise between 20 and 30 per cent this year. Saudis are complaining of the increasing rate of daily consuming products, blaming the pegging of the Saudi riyal to the dollar and the Ministry of Commerce's policies of the price increase.

But despite the campaigns and the ministry's appeals, milk producing companies are not yielding.

Abdul Rhaman Al Mahanna, managing director of Al Marei, a major Saudi dairy products company, said in remarks published yesterday that the price increase was unavoidable due to the increase in products' outputs. He criticised those who were campaigning against the increase, but did not name any parties.

"We are facing a fierce battle. There some who lead campaigns against milk companies," he said.

Observers noted that the boycott campaign has led to the decrease of milk sales in local market, an indication that that the campaign had received response from the public.