The month of fasting in Kuwait, like the countries of the Islamic world, enjoys a special place among families from preparing to buy Ramadan foodstuffs and clothes to decorations.
The most important thing that comes to the minds of consumers prior to Ramadan is to store various foodstuffs, sometimes due to lack of time during the holy month or various other reasons and poultry is one of the items that is stored and can reach between 15 and 40 cartons (10 pcs each carton) per family, including whole chicken, fillets, wings, and others, and the quantity increases or decreases depending on the number of family members and how much they consume, according to a local Arabic daily.
The meat consumption for a family of 5 ranges between 15 and 30 kilos during Ramadan, in addition to rice, pasta, soups, dates, and Ramadan sweets, as well as dairy products such as yogurt between 30 and 40 percent.
According to sources the food consumption during the month of Ramadan in Kuwait increases by up to 50%, due to the large number of gatherings, prayers and feasts (much of the food in consumed at night thanks to staying up late.
Some sectors, especially the food sector, restaurants, retail stores that sell plastic materials, household utensils and Ramadan decorations, clothes stores, dates and sweets stores make brisk business during Ramadan, but some other sectors are affected such as game stores, sports equipment and cafés, as well as the tourism and travel sector; fast food restaurants, hotel room reservations and the like.
It has been reported the prices of spices and nuts, which are among the basic commodities in Ramadan increased by approximately 40 percent compared to last year, as well as dried fruits, the average consumption of which per family reaches 3 kilos per week, and is also subject to increase or decrease according to the number of family members.
Various food companies, cooperative societies, and even retail stores that provide various Ramadan needs, compete to provide the best offers and discounts. Competition is intense at the level of food prices, as companies make discounts and offers, especially in the month of Ramadan, as well as shopping centers and cooperative societies among them at the level of prices as well, for example, you can find the price of a specific food commodity at one coop for a particular price and a slightly cheaper or expensive at another cooperative society, as a result the choice is open to the consumer to choose the best for him.
Ramadan sweets are considered one of the basic things after iftar, and sweet shops of all kinds compete to offer all that is new of Ramadan sweets, noting that Ramadan and oriental sweets shops start preparing for Ramadan two months before it, to keep pace with the crowding and huge requests, where the percentage of purchase of sweets reaches up to more than 60% of the normal time.
Like any other materials, the costs of raw materials for sweets have increased by more than 100% before Ramadan, so shops have been stockpiling these materials since the beginning of the year, noting that the most sold sweets during the month of Ramadan are kunafa, Qatayef, Warbat and Jalash with cheese and walnuts and baklava.
Dates are among the basics of Ramadan of all kinds, as their consumption increases compared to normal days by 80 percent, noting while Al-Khalas and Rateb dates are among the most purchased types during Ramadan, whether for breakfast, coffee time, or to give as gifts as well.
According to sources it has been noticed that there is 80 percent increase in the consumption of dates over the normal time; 60 percent increase demand for sweets; 50 percent of food is wasted during Ramadan and surprisingly it is said a single family per week consumes about 3 kilos of dried fruits on average.
Ramadan spending budget
• Between 20 and 50 dinars on Ramadan decorations
• Between 30 and 40 dinars on plastic items