Dated market
For decades the advent of Ramadan meant a visit to the date market in Rod Al-Farag. This year, however, may be the last of a long tradition. Gazebeya El-Hamamsy reports
Rod Al-Farag's date sellers cannot rejoice in the peace and serenity that usually accompanies the holy month of Ramadan. Their three-year feud with the Governorate of Cairo is about to end in relocation from their market in Shubra, just off the Corniche, to Al-Obour, about 30 kilometres from the city centre. This relocation is, however, seemingly a product of the date market's popularity rather than a move to promote growth.
Visit Rod Al-Farag in the weeks leading up to Ramadan and you'll be sucked into the throng circulating through its narrow alleys. Stalls display dates of all colours, kinds and prices -- and with a kilogramme going from five pounds to LE30, the buyers on tighter-than-normal budgets still have plenty of room to manoeuvre. Date nomenclature here often traces popular -- and not-so-popular -- culture. Bin Laden dates are on the more expensive end, at LE28 a kilogramme, followed by those named after famous Lebanese singers Nancy Agram and Elissa at LE22 each. This adds a little humour to the trade. The general commotion of this scene marks a time of year when Muslims are hoarding away dates with which to break their daily fast.
Breaking the fast with dates is considered sunna (a tradition of the Prophet) as the Prophet Mohamed broke his fast with a few dates and milk to prepare the stomach for iftar. Ramadan is thus the season for vendors to maximise their profits -- and defend their right to sell in Rod Al-Farag.
"We don't cause crowds except the 15 days before Ramadan, that's when we work the most," says date vendor Mohamed Aziz. The swelling crowds lining up to shop in Rod Al-Farag for dates, however, are exactly the reason why governorate officials ordered the move to Al-Obour in Nasr City.
"These markets produce dirt and terrible crowding in the streets. The Corniche is sometimes completely blocked from the Rod Al-Farag Bridge all the way to the Imbaba Bridge," complains Hassan Mokhtar, deputy governor for the Northern District of the Cairo. Adel Abdel-Hassib, who is in charge of the Northern District, says the crowded market lends the area "an uncivilised appearance". Lorries transporting goods to and from the marketplace, and buyers' vehicles also, worsen traffic in the area.
"We need to free the centre of Cairo from all this congestion; we need to move from the centre out," said Mokhtar.
In 2000, an official decision from the Cairo Governorate mandated the Al-Obour move. Vegetable and fish merchants were the first to go, the latter after violent confrontations with the government. For the time being, the date and grain sellers are the lone holdouts. But according to the governorate, this is the last year for dates in Rod Al-Farag now that all the stores for them in Al-Obour have been established.
Besides promises of equivalently-sized shops in Al-Obour, there is also talk in the souq of a LE50,000 compensation package and payouts every six months.
Abdel-Hassib explains that despite there being more than enough shops in Al-Obour to accommodate Rod Al-Farag's date sellers, there is fear that moving will prove commercially costly.
"They still don't want to move because they have an established clientele in Rod Al-Farag. They are accustomed to the place and it is an annoyance for them to move from one place to another, but moving to Al-Obour is definitely a step up," Mokhtar says.
Date vendors refuse to see the impact of the move as a simple annoyance. "We have been here for many generations, more than 150 years. My father had this store," Ali Moawed explains. "People know us by name here, but they won't come anymore when we move to Al-Obour. It is too far to go to buy dates." Another shopkeeper says that, "the problem is that there are other date markets like this one in areas closer to the city centre, such as the one in Maadi. So people will have no reason to come to us all the way there."
Prices are also at issue. While vendors insist that prices of dates will necessarily increase due to the move to Al-Obour, Northern District officials think otherwise. "Transportation from Al-Obour to here [downtown] is expensive; it will definitely affect prices," contends Mohamed Said, a date merchant. However, Abdel-Hassib rejects this argument. "The price of dates won't go up," he says. "The dates come from Upper Egypt so the transportation fees will be the same."
District officials think that everyone wins with the move to Al-Obour. "We will gain more control over the comings and goings of business, and they will get nicer shops and a better place to work," Abdel-Hassib says. Nicer shops don't sound attractive enough to vendors. "Already two date sellers have moved to Al-Obour but they are not happy there. Nor are the vegetable and fish sellers," a worried Said explains.
No matter what happens next year in Al-Obour, this year has been profitable in spite of the economic recession. "The date season hasn't fully begun, yet demand already exceeds supply -- especially wholesale demand for dates," Moawed says.
