Cairo: An international auction is due to start Saturday (today) in Saudi Arabia as part of the ongoing Crown Prince Camel Festival in the western city of Taif with the participation of Gulf owners.
The Saudi Camel Federation, the organiser of both events, has set auction terms for bidders and sellers, obligating the would-be buyer to pay SR10,000 in a deposit.
In case of a successful bid, the bidder has to pay the remaining part of the price in a maximum of one day after the auction is over. In case of default, the auction committee can withdraw the deposit in their favour and the bid on the camels is revoked.
The rules, moreover, obligate the buyer to transport the purchased camels on the same day. If not, the buyer will have to pay SR1,000 in sheltering fees to the committee, which has the authority to keep the bought camels until the buyer pays all accommodation costs.
The fifth edition of the Crown Prince Camel Festival kicked off on August 1 with total prizes of around SR56.2 million. Its closing ceremony is scheduled for September 7.
The festival was initiated in August 2018 to promote the camel heritage.
Camels are a popular animal closely linked to heritage in Saudi Arabia.
The animal has long been dubbed as the “ship of the desert”, being the lifeline for desert dwellers.
In recent years, the camel business has remarkably grown in the kingdom.
There are around 1.8 million camels with a market value of over SR50 billion in Saudi Arabia, according to official figures.
Saudi Arabia annually hosts the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, the world’s biggest pageant.
Around 1.8 million fans flocked to the event in its latest edition which ran for 45 days and concluded last January near the capital Riyadh, according to officials.
In June, Saudi Arabia’s first provincial camel festival, staged in the northern city of Tabuk, wrapped up with sales surpassing SR29 million.
The pageant marked the first in a series planned by the Saudi Camel Club to promote the Arabian camel heritage in different parts of the kingdom.
