RIYADH — The sales of foodstuffs and beverages during the second quarter of this year recorded a significant increase, coinciding with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown imposed in the Kingdom. During the period between April and June, the value of total sales of food and beverages reached SR17.46 billion, marking an average daily sales amounting to SR193.95 million and this recorded an increase of 86.02 percent while compared to the same period last year when it posted sales valued at SR9.38 billion, according to a monitoring made by Okaz/Saudi Gazette based on the government data. The sales of clothes and footwear registered a decrease of nearly half during the second quarter of 2020. The sales of these products crashed to SR5.06 billion, down by 48.79 percent, compared to the same period in 2019, when it amounted to SR9.88 billion. The period of the beginning of the spread of the pandemic witnessed a large turnout on the part of shoppers at stores to buy food products, and that prompted the ministry of commerce to announce availability of abundant quantity of stocks of foodstuffs.
