High warehouse rents in Qatar push prices up
High rents for warehouses and shelves of major business establishments in the local market have elevated the prices of both edible and non-edible consumer goods, sources in the retail trade say.
Retailers lamented that if current rental prices would continue to soar, they would be forced to transfer to neighbouring Gulf states to avoid losses.
“Nowhere in the region have commercial rents been as high as those charged by business outlets in Qatar,” they said, adding that the soaring rents have made edible and non-edible consumer goods “more expensive than
anywhere in the region.”
A warehouse manager said his company could hire a store as large as their present facility (about 1,100sq ft) anywhere in the UAE for less than one-sixth of the rent being charged at Doha Industrial Area.
“As a result the most local wholesalers are forced to supply goods at higher rates compared to other places in the GCC,” he said.
Another wholesaler complained that while food wholesalers have warehouses exclusively earmarked for them from Streets 35 to 38, prevailing commercial rents have already become unbearable for most operators.
The general sentiment gathered among suppliers in the country is that there is a compelling urge to shift their operations across the border where rents are much less if no improvement is seen among traffic and customs services.
Real estate sources, meanwhile, pointed out that local shelf rents at hypermarkets have also soared to unreasonable levels.
“If food businesses are to be retained in the country there should certainly be a fall in commercial rents,” argued a supplier, who set up a hypermarket earlier this year in the Industrial Area.
While there is an increase in the availability of space, most wholesalers said they are surprised that local warehousing rents continue to remain steep in the food supply sector.
They also noted that there has been a rise in logistics facilities in recent months and more are about to be commissioned.
“Surprisingly there has been no fall in the rents of warehouses. Rather, the rents have gone up considerably in recent months,” said a supplier.
While seeking the help of Qatar Chamber to help regulate rental costs, a supplier said earlier the intervention was better for the country’s retail businesses.
Some suppliers pointed out that players in the real estate sector “should be more realistic in their assessment of the local market requirements.”
It is always essential to keep the balance between inflation and progress. If the rental inflation remains unchecked then the country's progress could be disrupted. Therefore the prudence demands a good rental controlling system to be kept in place. If the Govt. plans to add up new warehousing areas for the next 10 years, this problem can efficiently be controlled.
The soaring rent is a real and genuine problem in the country, because of shortage of new warehousing areas. Unfortunately the Chamber members are stake holder in the real estate and business both, and that is why they always prefer that rental should be higher in order to generate maximum revenues for them and people like them. There is a clear "conflict of interest" in their role of responsibilities. The country needs exclusive expatriate business forum that could highlight such issues and find timely solutions.
This is something i disagree with i work for an warehousing company where we are capable of storing dry ac non ac ...chilled and frozen and also hazmat items or chemicals ..... and we had not increased our price since last three years ......... this people just need someone to put the blame on ,...... if they are really facing storage problems let them contact me @33519755 and i will provide them storage at a reasonable price .......