Inspections help rein in veggie, fruit prices at Central Market

Santhosh Chandran
Doha
Frequent inspections and monitoring by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) officials have kept a firm check on any attempt to increase prices of essential commodities such as vegetables and fruits at the Central Market this summer.
This has come as a huge relief for residents after the prices of some vegetables and fruits had witnessed a sharp increase in the recent past owing to short supply.
Prices of certain vegetables and fruits usually increase when the supply declines. However, mechanism of monitoring put in place by the authorities has helped stabilise the prices.
"The prices of certain types of vegetables and fruits rise during the summer and the demand for them drops due to high prices. Suppliers don't want to take much risk by supplying perishable commodities like fruits to the market in this hot and humid weather. However, the good thing is that fruits such as watermelon, sweet melon, grapes and oranges are still available at a reasonable price. The prices of fruits and most vegetables have not gone up, thanks to intervention by the price regulating authority," said Sulaiman Ahmed, a dealer at the Central Market.
Popular summer fruits such as watermelon, sweet melon, mangoes, oranges and grapes are still available at reasonable price at the Central Market.
While one kilo of watermelon costs between QR1 and QR2, sweet melons are being sold for QR4-QR5 a kg. Prices of grapes range between QR4 and QR8 per kg. A kilo of mangoes costs between QR7 and QR16 at the Central Market
Meanwhile, the humid weather has resulted in short supply of certain varieties of mangoes from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt. Grapes from Egypt are also in short supply at the market this week.
"This is an ideal time to purchase fruits in bulk from the Central Market. Many dealers don't have proper storage facilities and since the fruits cannot be kept outside for a long time due to the summer heat, vendors try to sell off their stocks quickly even at lower prices," a regular customer at the Central Market said.