TABUK: With summer vacation and wedding season drawing near, ready-made clothes market here is witnessing a rise in prices, particularly for women's dresses. Prices for wedding dresses have gone up 50 percent, leaping to SR1,500, and they are expected to reach SR2,000. Several Saudi nationals including Ali Muhammad and Khalid Al-Suwailim told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that during the seasons, traders hike prices of ready-made dresses amid an absence of supervision and monitoring. They called on authorities to implement strict price-fixing regulations. Muhammad Al-Muhaisin said he was astonished by the rise in prices of girls' and women's dresses. He called upon the Ministry of Commerce branch to carry out inspection tours and penalize price-fixers. Ibrahim, a dress salesman, said distributors raise prices during the summer season, which forces merchants to charge more. Muhammad Bin Sulaiman Al-Sane', director of the Ministry of Commerce branch in Tabuk Region, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that there are special committees to monitor prices, particularly for gold ornaments and ready-made clothes. He confirmed that there are firm instructions to shop owners to place prices on their goods and said violations or price-fixing are noted and punitive measures are taken against shopkeepers through anti-commercial-fraud committees.
