Go to any grocery store in the UAE and you are likely to find lanterns, crescent decorations and other hallmarks of Ramadan, but also bare shelves as demand for iftar ingredients goes through the roof.
Queues tailed back from the tills at the Emirates General Market on Muroor Road, Abu Dhabi, on the first day of Ramadan, and customers cleared the chicken from the freezers.
At the Carrefour in Bawadi Mall, Al Ain, yesterday, there were yawning gaps on shelves as consumers snapped up fresh poultry and tubs of yogurt.
Retailers generally plan for a higher demand for Ramadan foods such as dates, but it is always a challenge to stay on top of the game, said Mohammad Achkar, the director of retail sales at the UAE-based Federal Foods.
Demand for Sadia frozen chicken products had surged by 10 to 15 per cent during the holy month, he said.
To keep up with demand, the food distributor has installed six 40-foot cooling containers stacked with chicken and other foods near key supermarkets around the UAE, he said.
"We are getting bigger orders. And we have more storage containers in some of the outlets to ensure that the stock is available at all times, because their back storage areas are small," Mr Achkar said.
The holy month means big business for retailers. During Ramadan in 2008, UAE residents spent US$441 million (Dh1.61bn) on food, according to the market research company AC Nielsen.
That was a 27 per cent increase on the previous year, Nielsen said. Jannie Holtzhausen, the chief executive of the supermarket chain Spinneys Dubai, said his company typically saw a 5 per cent surge in demand during Ramadan.
Sales so far are on par with Ramadan last year, and his stores have managed to keep up with demand, he said. But the early start of Ramadan this year had led to higher demand for carbonated drinks, he said.
aligaya@thenational.ae
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