{"id":21491,"date":"2023-02-20T16:06:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T16:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/?p=21491"},"modified":"2023-02-20T16:06:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T16:06:12","slug":"uae-consumers-to-spend-less-on-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2023\/02\/20\/uae-consumers-to-spend-less-on-food\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE consumers to spend less on food"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nAfter nearly a year, UAE consumers will start spending less on food bills<\/a> in the next few weeks as food import prices start to even out at last.<\/p>\n

This is thanks to a significant drop in shipping costs in the last two months which is soon going to be reflected in food prices at the consumer level, according to UAE-based food importers and retailers.<\/p>\n

UAE grocery retailers have through the last year kept price increases on food essentials in relative check, with the local authorities monitoring the situation constantly.<\/p>\n

Chairman and managing director at Dubai-based Al Adil Trading<\/a>, Dhananjay Datar, said: \u201cFood inflation had peaked \u2013 now it\u2019s a time for a drop.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreight costs have dropped from $1,150 a TEU to $125 in our sector, and then you have the relatively strong dollar and which makes imports from most sourcing markets much cheaper. There\u2019s also a third reason, for lower fuel costs than was the case last year. These cost benefits will pass on to the UAE consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to sources, it can take some time for a drop in shipping costs dropping to be refleted on price tags, whether at the grocery store or hypermarket.<\/p>\n

Since the outbreak of hostilities between Russia-Ukraine, consumers worldwide have been paying more for their food purchases.<\/p>\n

Founder and chairman of Dubai-headquartered Ghassan Aboud Group, the operator of the Grandiose supermarket chain, said: “We are seeing now that the shipping costs have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels and are forecasted to go further lower, which is good news for shippers and importers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough food prices have dropped from the pandemic peaks, the overall FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) in 2022 (averaged at 143.6 points) remained at all-time high levels. Staples like wheat, rice, sugar and palm oil have consistently risen due to tighter availability and increasing demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the region being a net importer of food commodities, we have seen a rise in food prices across the GCC, consistent with global trends. But average spending on food commodities has not dropped. Despite the macroeconomic headwinds, spending even on non-essentials has also grown by double-digits in the UAE and KSA. Overall, there is a positive local sentiment when it comes to retail sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UAE consumers are soon going to see food prices drop as shipping costs started to stabilise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":17282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3927,1323,1],"tags":[3966],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21492,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491\/revisions\/21492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}