AMMAN —
Students returned to school for in-person education Sunday, but so far there
has been limited demand on stationery compared to the period before the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is expected to change and the demand for
stationery to increase next week, once the education process proceeds with
regularity of employee get their salaries.
اضافة اعلان
The head of the
Stationery and Office Supplies Dealers Syndicate,
Ashraf Kawar, told
Jordan
News in a phone call that the current limited demand on stationery and
school supplies will witness an improvement as a result of the positive decision
to return to in-person education.
The pandemic, he
said, increased the financial burden on merchants, who, in turn, opted to lower
expenses by reducing the number of workers, and, some, temporarily or
permanently closing their shops.
“Dozens of bookstores
were closed permanently or temporarily to reduce expenses during the pandemic,
which made merchants offer their goods at a simple profit or at cost because of
their need for liquidity,” Kawar said.
“Many merchants
offer to sell students some of the items accumulated in warehouses and
bookstores at lower prices, because there are no seasons to sell them,” added
Kawar, stressing that there is enough available stationery at prices close to
those of previous years and that suits all needs.
Estimating that,
on average, a student needs JD40 to JD50 to buy school supplies, Kawar said the
sum spent of these by the two and a half
million students in Jordan would make the volume of sales by the sector to some
JD100 to JD125 million, but this figure was not reached during the pandemic.
Kawar also urged
action against street vendors of school supplies who peddle wares, usually of
low-quality, affecting the sales of bookstore owners who pay taxes and fees,
and great obligations.
A bookstore owner
said he would have liked the
government to announce well in advance the
decision to start in-person education so he could stock more stationery and
school supplies, which he did not do for fear of stockpiling goods that are not
needed if the ministry decides to switch to e-learning, and not to add to
expenses, since he incurred losses during the long-distance learning.
He said the
sector should be lent support, by reducing taxes on imports, as it was greatly
affected by the pandemic.
A shopper who was
wandering around the markets to get an idea of the quality of goods and their
prices said he will return to the shop that suits him to buy
school supplies
when he receives his salary.
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