Saudi traders fear increasing popularity of date festival

04 September, 2012

Though local traders are excited at the burgeoning popularity of the date festival, held in Saudi Arabia every year, but on the flip side the entry of foreigners into the trade has threatened their existence.

DATES ARE the staple food among the people residing in the Middle East. Though the nutritious fruit also grows in other parts of the world, it is so popular in Saudi Arabia that a 'date festival' is being held every year in the country for last 21 years.

In this AFP video, Khalid Alnogedan, General Manager of Investment, Qassin Municipality, says that the 'Date festival is a big carnival, all the producers, consumers, traders meet in an area of 16,500 sq kms.'

The presence of massive number of luxury cars shows the love for dates in Saudi Arabia. Large sales of dates are recorded in the festival. Says Abdullah Altiwajry, a date seller: “Every day 2000 cars come to this market. The volume of dates brought and sold in this market touches 2 billion Saudi Riyal.”

Due to the quantity of dates that is sold in the market, people from other countries have also taken note of. As a result, foreigners have also jumped into the market, but this hasn't gone down well with the local traders, who feel threatened by their presence. “There is a competition between us and the foreign labour in the sales of dates. They use their own cars for retail. They take customers away from us and should be stopped,” adds Altiwajry.