A senior government official from the UAE's Ministry of Economy, asked retailers to reduce prices of basic commodities in line with the global fall in the cost of several raw materials and export items, and especially in the light of reduction in transportation costs.

Dr Hashim Al Nuaimi, director of the Consumer Protection Department at the Ministry of Economy, chaired a meeting with representatives of key retail outlets in the UAE.

Al Nuaimi congratulated the retail outlets for their co-operation in price management during the Holy Month of Ramadan, and discussed ways to implement new initiatives for the benefit of consumers.

The meeting discussed the impact of decline in prices of exported products, and explored reasons on why the reduction is not reflected in prices locally.

Al Nuaimi reiterated the Ministry's commitment to stabilising prices as part of the its new policies and agreements signed with the retail outlets, aiming at keeping prices in a reasonable range and selling goods at cost value, as well as stabilising the prices of main goods.

The outlet representatives predicted that prices of a number of food items will drop in the coming months due to decline in production costs in local and regional markets and the appreciation of the dollar.

They explained that prices of some goods continue to be high, despite declining global prices, because of old stocks that were bought at high prices earlier.

They said the prices would be rectified on the new stocks. They said demand for food items has not declined, thus confirming the stability in customer demand.-TradeArabia News Service