Prices of rice, which were stable after the subsidy announced by the government recently, have gone up at least a riyal per kg in many regions of the Kingdom. The government offered a subsidy of SR1,000 per ton of rice recently. Several dealers expect rice will become dearer as India's decision to suspend export of all types of rice except Basmati continues. Higher oil prices which led to an increase in shipping and export costs, is also a factor, dealers said. But rice prices at big shops listed on the Riyadh Municipality index and small grocery stores that have not yet made new orders remained constant, Al-Watan reported on Tuesday. Considerable price discrepancies were noted all over the capital, the paper said. The 10-kg bag of Abou Kas rice is sold at small grocery stores between SR62 and SR67. At one of the stores listed on the Municipality's index the price is SR56.15 for the same brand. Rafiq Mohammad, who works at large grocery store, said he was surprised that the supplier was asking for a higher price for the rice he supplied on Sunday. “We were forced to sell at the new price and with a small profit margin,” he said. The distributors did not justify the new hike despite confirming availability of large quantities of rice in warehouses and denying any shortage in supply, he said. Abdullah Al-Ahdal, manager at another store, said some shops take advantage of the hike to sell at new prices despite the fact that their stock is old and was purchased at a much lower price. Hamad Al-Rashid, a Saudi, said he bought rice in bulk from shops listed on the municipality's index to preempt any new hikes. __
