As dates flood markets, customers make a beeline for quick buy

Hyderabad: This Ramzan, after two years, the markets have been again flooded with varieties of dates. There is a great demand for dates as the Muslims buy them in huge quantities to consume it for breaking their day-long fast in the holy month.

For the last two years, the Muslims observed the holy month during the lockdowns induced by Covid pandemic. With the Ramzan expected to start Sunday, many were seen making a visit to markets to buy the dates. Most of the customers were seen buying imported varieties of dates from Iran and Iraq (Zahidi dates) whose price ranges from Rs 70 to 200 per kg. The other varieties are just above the normal Indian date prices, known as Pind Khajoor.

Tariq Omer, a customer at Begum Bazar, said that for the last two years, people have been procuring dates from retailers in nearby areas. But now, they are rushing to markets to purchase imported dates.

Depending on their spending capacity, the customers prefer premium dates coming from Iran, Iraq, Tunisia, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. While some of the varieties like Ajwa, known to be the king of dates, are sold at premium prices of Rs 2,000 kg and above in the market.

According to traders, the market has been witnessing a huge rush for dates after two years and the sales have also gone up considerably this year. "As the Ramzan is going to start in a couple of days, the demand for dates is high. Families and also the retailers started procuring dates," said Raj Kumar Tandon of Kashmir House at Begum Bazar.

Regarding a video circulating on social media over the increase in price, Raj Kumar clarified that there was no increase in price of dates this year as the market has huge quantities of dates.

Famously the varieties of dates being sold in the city include Kimia, Shukkuri, KupKup, Khudri, Mariyum, and the dates filled with some dry fruits like almond, nuts, apricots etc. are sold at a high price. Beside this, Mazafati, Kalmi, Mashrooq, Maghroom and eight more varieties of dates are from Saudi Arabia, whose prices start from Rs 400 per kg. While Ajwa, the top-most premium variety grown in Saudi Arabia, is rare and is only available in Saudi, said Raj Kumar Tandon.

Mohammed Muqeet, another trader, said that the crop would be imported starting from the month of December and now there was no shortage or the increase in price. "Increasing of Rs 10 or 20 per kg remains common and no major increase in price has been observed in the markets."

It is observed that vendors and pushcart sellers are selling dates at high prices, making huge profits by charging more than Rs 80-120 a kg and selling each box of 500 gm of Kimia dates at Rs 250 to Rs 300.