KUWAIT CITY, April 25: The rumor of the closure of the fish market in the Sharq continues to cast a shadow over the most prominent marketing window in the country for selling and displaying local and imported food and fish, reports Al-Anba daily. This has had negative consequences on the general public – citizens and residents -- in general and for stall investors and sellers in general especially at a time when abundant supply led to a decrease in prices and benefited the visitors to the market, especially during the Eid holiday.

The Ministry of Commerce inspectors who visited the market during the holiday, did not hesitate to follow up the workflow in the market and monitor cases of commercial fraud and manipulation of consumer protection laws and ended up issuing a number of citations for violating the rights of others. The daily toured the fish market on the third day of Eid al-Fitr, and followed the volume of turnout, shopping movement and prices, and the following are the details.

In the beginning, the Nuba supervisor, Rashid Al-Rabbah, told the daily that the new automated system had been adopted to issue citations electronically, which is quickly distinguished from paper violations and contributes to reducing mediation and embarrassment, as the violation is recorded by the inspector through the device, so it reaches directly to the shift supervisor, and from him to the chief of emergency, who views it, checks it and sends it to the ministry, which allows the Commercial Prosecution to take necessary measures.

Al-Rabbah added that in some cases, the inspector may see the need to close the stall if the violation is serious, so the director of the department or the undersecretary of the ministry is informed of this, and the stall or shop is closed, and then the violation is referred to the Commercial Prosecution. He pointed out that the new system is more accurate and less embarrassing to officials and prevents nepotism, pointing out that the violations have decreased in the recent period with the adoption of this system, which is characterized by the speed of taking action. For his part, the seller Ibrahim Al-Iraqi pointed out that all types of fish prices decreased coinciding with Eid Al-Fitr and said this was due to many Kuwaitis and residents leaving the country to spend the holidays outside Kuwait.

As a result of this a kilo of Kuwaiti Nuwaibi was sold for 3.5 dinars, al-Shaoom 3.5, Kuwaiti balool 7 dinars, Kuwaiti grouper 5.5, Iranian nakrour 3.5, Turkish sea bass 4 dinars, super jumbo 5.5, medium shrimp 3 dinars, and Norwegian salmon 5 dinars, the Iranian zubaidi for 8 dinars, the jumbo shrimp for 6.5, and the medium for 3.5. The head of the Capital’s emergency team at the Ministry of Commerce, Hamid Al-Dhafiri, who was present in the market despite the holiday, told the daily that the ministry’s inspectors are committed to inspecting the workflow even during the holidays, pointing out that he and the inspectors made a tour during which cases of commercial fraud were detected, most notably the country of origin. Al-Dhafiri added that some sellers claim that the origin of the fish is Iranian, which is in fact Pakistani, and raise the price to the consumer.