The growing demand for meat, especially mutton, has hit sales at the fish market, industry sources have said.
Some of the major suppliers and stall owners said the fish market has to wait for at least one more week to recover as this has been the usual trend during previous Ramadan seasons as well.
Enquiries with traders found that most of the favoured varieties other than hamour were available for prices lower than the corresponding period last month.
While hamour continued to be expensive even yesterday at QR70/kg and above, chenad (king fish) was sold for QR25/kg. The prices of varieties such as safi (Doha), Sultan Ibrahim and jesh, among others, have fallen sharply since the beginning of the holy month, it is learnt.
Mackerel is a bit expensive as its prices ranged above QR10/kg at retail outlets yesterday. This could be attributed to a steep fall in its catch, according to the industry sources.
“Fish prices are expected to increase in the second half of Ramadan,” said Ismail, a veteran trader. According to him, most of the major hotels and large-scale buyers had reduced their purchase and hence there was less demand for fish in general over the fortnight.
Similar feedback came from hypermarkets as well. There is adequate supply in the local market notwithstanding the windy conditions over the last few days. The windy spell is expected to continue today, according to the forecast.