Several parents expressed their shock at the exorbitant prices being charged by bookshops and hypermarkets for the school supplies as the new academic year started Saturday. Shops which have displayed school supplies since the end of August are found to be charging prices that are considerably higher than what they were last year. A dozen 60-page notebooks were priced at SR21, SR1.7 per notebook, which means that retail shops might sell each one for SR2, up from SR1.5 last year. The wholesale price of six 80-page notebooks reached SR12, which means small bookshops will charge SR2.5 per notebook. The wholesale price of a bundle of 400 pieces of paper has risen from SR16 to SR20. International-trademark schoolbags such as New Boy, Bari and Spiderman were being sold for prices exceeding SR150, up from SR130 last year. New schoolbags of medium size and quality ranged between SR80 and SR110, up from last year's range of SR70 to SR80. Many shoppers in the hypermarkets were surprised at these stores displayed school supplies so far in advance of the beginning of the academic year; some stores had the items on display even during the last 10 days of Ramadan. Umm Muhammad said the prices have caused a shock for many families, especially because some children insist on having new schoolbags every year. She said most families cannot afford the new school supplies due to the burdens of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr. Ahmad Abdullah, marketing in charge at a supermarket, said it was not surprising the prices have increased and stressed that no country has escaped a worldwide wave of price hikes. He said increases between 10 and 15 percent are normal because raw materials are now costing more. Displaying school supplies early gives families ample time to choose what they want to buy, he added. An earlier study estimated that annual sales of school supplies reach SR4 billion, amid recurrent complaints from teachers demanding that their students purchase supplies even if they are not required. __
