By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter


Fish has become cheaper in the last one week in the Doha Central Market on account of the steady arrival and lack of demand from among the regular buyers.
On a visit to the country’s main fish trading centre yesterday it was found that there has been a big fall in the number of regulars visiting the market these days as many Asian expatriates are away  on vacation.
As a result the retail prices of some of such popular varieties as king fish (Chenad), jesh, rubian, sheri, faskar, sardines and mackerel have fallen considerably compared to 10 days ago.
Perhaps one of the very few varieties that remained strong in demand and priced higher than in the previous week was shamal safi, which was sold for prices between QR50 and QR60/kilo yesterday at most of the 50-odd retail outlets at the Doha Central Market.
Speaking to this newspaper, some of the stall owners said the demand has been very low these days and the prevailing price levels are expected to continue at least for another one week before the locals turn to buy fish.
“Usually, most varieties of fish are priced low in the first one week of the Ramadan and the trend has been almost the same for several years now,” said Mohamed Abdullah, a senior trader at the Central Market.
While expecting the low prices to continue for a few more days the stall operator said the demand from hotels and restaurants too has not been that good since the beginning of the month.
Another stall owner said the low overall demand in the first week of Ramadan is mainly because of the large scale buying of chicken and mutton from the Qatari and other Arab nationalities.  “Why most fishes are cheap now is because the locals take home more of chicken and mutton in the first week of the Ramadan while many Asian expatriates are not in the country owing to school vacation,” he said.
While chenad was sold for prices between QR25 and QR30 yesterday, it was QR50 and above a week ago. Similarly, Hamour too has fallen to the levels of QR30-35/kilo from QR60 and above levels about a fortnight ago.
The low institutional purchases and lack of demand from many workers’ accommodations too have contributed to low prices, it is generally felt.