JEDDAH: During a time of crop scarcities, a rise in freight charges and contentions of price-fixing, traders have raised prices for cooking oil. Price hikes range between 15 and 20 percent, compared to the same time last year. Increases, which span sizes and quality levels, range from small bottles going from SR7 to SR9 to 1.8-liter bottles of high-quality oil going from SR16 to SR22. Abdul Salam Al-Hakami, a sales manager, said the increases were caused by problems with crops, the most important of which are corn and sunflower. Oils are among the major commodities, including rice and sugar for calculating the price index, he added. The Food and Agriculture Organization has said it expects an improvement in corn cultivation during the coming months, but Al-Hakami did not rule out more price hikes during the summer and the holy month of Ramadan, due to the expected high consumption. He said the general rise in prices in the Kingdom is due to the large reliance on imports. Al-Hakami admitted that there are cases of price-fixing with some oil and said this is happening because some companies rely on the reputation their products enjoy among some customers.
