With the newly-opened Hamad Port and its allied facilities like logistics parks start their operations in full-swing, the prices of essential goods, especially food items, are expected to become more stable in the local market.
“Prices of goods and food items are determined by several factors in the local market. The prices are often influenced by warehousing and transportation cost, which is relatively higher in our country. The completion of the new facilities will help bring down the prices at significant levels”, Ali Hassan Al Khalaf (pictured), Chairman, Qatar Consumer Complexes (QCC) told The Peninsula in an interview.
Al Khalaf, who himself is an importer, has served in several key positions in the government, including a department responsible for price control, says that prices of imported goods in the local market depends on various factors, such as the transportation costs and their availability in adequate quantities.
Al Khalaf, former Director of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, noted: “ I believe that with the full operation of the new port, and the completion of the ongoing road, rail and logistics parks, being developed across the country, things will change significantly. These state-of-the-art facilities will affect the market positively, making the local market more stable, both in terms of prices and availability of goods.”
Al Khalaf, who took his first job at the Ministry in early 1970s, as head of the price control section, said that Qatar’s private sector businesses have been trying to establish a very strong import and wholesale market both for food and non-food items, which can be achieved with the full support of concerned authorities.
He, who owns a chain of retail outlets, supermarkets and retail complexes in several areas of the country, such as Dohail, Mamoura, Al Markhiya, Al Khairaitiyat and others, noted that the establishment of better and bigger warehouses equipped with contemporary facilities, in new areas of the country, along with better road and rail networks, will improve cost-efficiency and delivery system of goods to clients and retail points significantly.
However, he added that the prices of goods in local market also depends on prices of commodities in international markets. But a lot can be done to reduce the transportation cost equal to the level prevailing in neighboring countries.
Asked about expansion plans Al Khalaf pointed out that businesses in general and retail operators in particular, are facing many challenges in terms of expansion. High rentals for retail space, lack of availability of land plots and their inflated prices” are some of the common challenges facing the local businesses.
“We want to establish retail outlets designed in accordance to the local needs and requirements, but we do not find plots of lands at affordable prices,” noted Al Khalaf,
