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Only marginal rise in prices of sweets despite festive rush

SHARJAH — Despite the heavy rush for last-minute purchase of Eid sweets at bakeries and shops in Sharjah, owners say they have refrained from hiking the price substantially this year in the interest of the customers who were already burdened with high cost of living.

The hike, if any, is marginal, sources said, adding the rise is perhaps by only 50 fils or Dh1 per kg.

A source at the Al Ameer Bakery in Sharjah said the bakeries in the emirate were forced to hike the price of their products only marginally due to the rise in cost of raw materials and high transportation costs.

“Since the demand for the bakery items including sweets and other delicacies is high during this time of the year, our turnover is high and we can offset our losses.”

Loui Mohammed, Manager of Lebanon Spring bakery, said they specialise in sweets of different countries including sweets from Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. “The heavy demand, however, has not led to any increase in prices of sweets.”

An employee from Al Maya Lals bakery section said they had increased the price of bakery products according to the demands of the local market. Prices of all food items had increased during Ramadan.

Besides, raw materials including gas, butter, milk, wheat and flour had become very expensive. “If we purchased such materials at a high cost and sold bakery products cheap, we would have lost out on our profits,” he added.

Meanwhile, people shopping for sweets just before Eid appeared happy because the prices of bakery products had not risen. “The price was affordable,” Obaid Al Dukhan a customer shopping at Al Bakht bakery said.

The man who purchased sweets in big quantity said that the price of bakery items has seen an increase every year during Eid. However, this year the increase was small. Even though it had increased substantially, people have no choice but to purchase sweets which is important part of the Eid celebrations in the region, Al Dukhan pointed out.

Ali Khalfan, another shopper at Al Ameer bakery, said earlier families prepared their own sweets and bakery items at home just before Eid. So the price made no difference to people’s budget. But, with large families and the women of the house having very little time for all such preparations at home, we are forced to buy sweets from the shops, he said. As a result, bakeries and sweet shops take advantage of the situation and hike prices to make quick profits during the festival period.

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