(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Safa Ramadan Al Sawwaf / The Peninsula
DOHA: Consumable goods including food and non-food items of various varieties in adequate quantity are available at reasonable prices in local markets, said a market player.
'There is no shortage of any product at all, and Qatari market has all type of consumable goods in enough quantity, Mohamed Rasheed Al Hashmi, Director of the Lulu Hypermarket - Old Airport Branch, told The Peninsula in an interview.
He said now the consumers have more options of products and price ranges than before the blockade, and the Qatari products are compatible with the imported products in terms of quality and price.
'The quality of Qatari products is improving day-by-day, especially food products including fresh vegetables, poultry, eggs, cheese and milk, said Al Hashmi.
Al Hashmi noted that the measures taken by the state to overcome the siege had succeeded in finding out alternative markets for importing goods.
Al Hashmi said that the Ministry of Economy and Commerce provided all support and guidance to maintain the supply in local markets, adding that alternative products of blockading countries were available at same quality but many of them at better quality and prices.
Al Hashmi said that there are many countries which were exporting commodities to Qatar. 'The key exporting countries are USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon and Pakistan, he added.
Mohamed Rasheed Al Hashmi, Director of the Lulu Hypermarket - Old Airport Branch.
He further said that Qatar is importing from these countries many items like eggs, fresh and frozen meat, milk and vegetables, fruits, household appliances, plastic items, canned foods, paper products, cleaning products, etc.
Al Hashmi said that this is basic objective of Lulu Hypermarket to provide high quality products on competitive prices. 'Since last Ramadan, we have taken extra necessary precautions to store and supply all types of goods required for the Qatari market to serve all segments of society, said Al Hashmi.
'We have a huge warehouse at Logistics Area which is enough to accommodate our imported products. This is one of the largest warehouses in Qatar meeting the specifications required for storage.
Al Hashmi said that Lulu management was promoting local products food and non-food items by giving them special display. He said that fresh Qatari vegetables, almost of all kinds, were available in agricultural season covering big portion of local need and some products met 100 percent demand of local market during the season.
'Many other things are being also produced in Qatari in large quantity like cleaning products, paper products, potable water, frozen and chilled foods, cheeses, milk, eggs, chicken, and fish, said Al Hashmi.
Regarding the availability of local products in Qatari market, Al Hashmi said: 'only 30 percent products available at our branches are imported remaining 70 percent are local.
'We organised festivals to promote Qatari products of various varieties, especially fresh products, in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, said Al Hashmi.
He said that Lulu Hypermarket has direct contact with a number of Qatari farms to bring local vegetables directly from farms to the market for consumers.
Regarding the Ramadan price list, Al Hashmi said that the Ministry of Economy and Commerce had subsidised 450 commodities at cost to cost price.
Regarding the demands of food and non-food commodities in Ramadan, he said that the highly demanded items were seasonal products of various kinds including nuts, juices, canned foods, rice, macaroni, powdered milk, sweets like jelly, custard, and caramel cream.
Al Hashmi added that the offers and discounts included most of the food items available at the Lulu Hypermarket, which the consumer demanded in Ramadan more than other months of the year, and there were also offers on non-food items such as detergents and cleaning materials, kitchen gears and tools for gardening and agriculture purposes.
Regarding the mechanism to communicate with the public to inform them about the special offers in Ramadan, he said that it was being done through daily newspapers, social networking sites, in addition to contracting with companies to deliver the brochures of offers and discounts to the doorsteps of the consumers.
Al Hashmi explained that there was a lot of cooperation between the Lulu Hypermarket and charities. He said that in the current month of Ramadan, the 'Shop and Donate project was launched.
'It was signed between the Lulu administration and the Qatar Charity Foundation, he added. He said that when a consumer bought any item listed under the charity project, a portion of the profit went automatically to the Qatar Charity.
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