JEDDAH: Suppliers of electronic goods say the rise in prices over the last week is due to “importers monopolizing the market” and controlling the price and available quantity of products. “The absence of inspectors to monitor prices on the market has allowed importers to set their prices, particularly Japanese products which they claim have seen a fall in production because of last month's earthquake,” said distributor Mar'i Al-Shehri. “In just a week prices have gone up by between 15 and 30 percent on most electronic goods.” He said that distributors had little room for maneuver in what they can offer the customer when they are in the hands of importers. “We have profit margins of only around five percent while importers work to margins of between 70 and 100 percent profit on basic product prices,” he said. Another distributor said that procedural difficulties for the importation of electronic goods allow some importers to control the market. He added that the Ministry of Trade and Industry should “make procedures easier” to improve competition. “Unless the ministry intervenes, things are only going to get worse,” Waleed Al-Amri said. “The ministry should protect the consumer as well as the market and retail traders. Things will continue in this way as long as the major importers have no fear of any penalties.”
