Supplements are pretty expensive in Kuwait but I had forgotten how expensive until last night. I dropped by Health Planet to pick up ZMA and they only had the supplement in the MET-Rx brand. I decided to check Amazon for reviews and noticed that the price on Amazon was just $9.99 which is basically 3KD. The price at Health Planet? 14.5KD. That’s nearly 5 times more expensive than the Amazon price.
Why are supplements still so expensive in Kuwait? A few years ago there weren’t that many places that sold supplements but now there are a whole bunch of them and the prices have yet to fall.
I used to order my supplements from UAE based Sporter, but they’ve now started charging for shipping so it’s no longer feasible to order from them anymore. I should have gotten supplements back with me from LA, no idea why I didn’t think about that but even if I did, that would have just been a short-term fix.
29 replies on “Why are Supplements so Expensive in Kuwait?”
Monopoly.
Also supply and demand.
I think now you can order almost anything but when it comes to supplements it is time consuming to clear them out. MOH signatures and you also need to go to the البيئة to sign a few papers.
Also it is like roulette you never know when your items will clear or not.
Monopoly would entail there is only one supplier but there are a ton of places that sell supplements and they’re all excessively over priced.
If you order from sporter it doesn’t go through customs but sadly shipping isn’t free anymore and so it only makes sense if you’re ordering in bulk
So it is a cartel then.
Just because a brand is selling everywhere doesn’t always mean there are multiple suppliers. it easily could be a single supplier that is controlling the market and providing a huge margain of profit for them to be sold at different places.
If multiple suppliers were involved, you easily could see pricing going down, eg. vape products. it is now cheaper to buy US made brands in Kuwait than in the US. because of the volume + multiple suppliers.
i didn’t say the same brand is selling everywhere, i said there are multiple suppliers, as in more than one supplier bringing in supplements to kuwait which is why its strange the pricing hasn’t gone down.
results, health planet, health house nutrition, wawan, nutrishop etc.. are all suppliers of different brands of supplements.
Its what meshari mentioned, MOH Registration is granted for up to 2 years only while the registration process takes a minimum of 1 year.
Any exception to the above requires a KD 5000 Bribe per Container to Customs and a huge bribe to MOH incase you’re planning to sell the items in a pharmacy.
Beside the above, pure KuwaitvMarket Conditions continue i.e. high rents, small economy scale ….etc.
This is the same in the case of cosmetics/skin care. A Clinique moisturizer that costs US $ 27, is priced 24 KD here. I still cant understand why. So i always stock up when i travel.
Simple rule of thumb for doing business in kuwait
1) pay shop rent,baladiya fees
2) pay employees,med insurance,leave salary,shoon fees
3) pay sponsor
4) pay customs and clearance duties
5) pay the respective govt organisation for approvals
6) pay wasta
7) pay bank loan
8) pay yearly increment and bonus to employees
9) N of course we need our 50-100% profit at the end of the day so that we can get the missus her yearly porsche and europe summer vacation
that the rule of thumb for doing business basically anywhere except for the wasta part
Not true. Steps and costs of doing business are way too complicated and expensive in Kuwait, compared to the ROW and even GCC.
8) pay yearly increment and bonus to employees
Where? I am yet to see either of these two in ~3 years of employment in a ‘reputed private sector company’.
The reason is very simple. To get supplements here you have to go through a lot of red tape and complicated requirements.A shipment can stay on clearance for a long time, so when you add up all the effort and time taken to bring the goods it only makes sense to sell them at high prices.
Order it through Amazon UK? Duh?
Order through Mrbabu.com. Cheaper than the local stores.
Dear Mark,
Try this site amazing prices https://www.iherb.com/search?sug=cellucor+c4&kw=cellulor+C&rank=01
the prices aren’t amazing, the prices are exactly like Amazon.
Ahmed,
I like your Kaged Muscle product prices. Very reasonable. Ordering right away.
Hi Mark,
Try iHerb.com. It has almost all the products that I have wanted to order and the prices are the normal US prices. I had ordered 6 tubs of proteins (5 lbs) for my friends and I as well as protein bars and cookies and the shipping cost me 10 kd (DHL) and customs around 2-3 KD and the package was delivered to me in 3 or 4 working days.
I only use this website now and highly recommend it
Why would I do that? It’s cheaper to just order from Amazon and send it to my posta plus account.
Not only that but I might as well just order from Sporter, prices are pretty close to iHerb, they charge just KD5 to ship to Kuwait AND more importantly, because its coming from UAE it doesn’t go through customs.
Yes you could send it to posta plus but they charge you for the shipping by weight as well. We have ordered fewer products using posta plus and shop and ship and have paid over 20 KD for the shipping as well as cutsoms.
Sporter is great too but a year ago or so they wouldn’t ship Gold Standard products to Kuwait so I had stopped using them. I’ll check them out again.
Just don’t order why online and you’ll be fine, I ordered a huge lot of supplements, actually all the ones pictured above and shipping was like under 15kd
supplements are cheap in UAE compared to Kuwait
Supplments are not regulated by the Ministry of Health in UAE, KSA, QATAR…. they are regulated by the Ministry of Commerce or sometime Municipality Food Divisions. That why in kuwait its fzuxked, they treat supplments as if you’re ordering cancer drugs (though the employees assist a bit more)
Hi Mark,
How long have you been taking ZMA ? And how has it helped you?
Don’t know how long, it’s on and off. Just helps me go to sleep quicker.
I order my supplements in bulk from Bodybuilding.com. I’m good for a year or two. Their prices are the best and you constantly find a “Buy 1 get 1″/”Buy 2 get 1” promotions on supplements (which helps cancel out the shipping charges to Kuwait). It is far safer than amazon in terms of expiration date.
I only purchase from health planet if necessary. They do have a discount club but I can’t recall the rate of the discount.
Bodybuilding.com and postaplus mybox account are my safest bet, I usually tend to buy once or twice a year maximum, the supplement line I usually go for is a bit expensive called “Jym” but has no proprietary blend, we what you see is what you get.
Find an American buddy or USA military person, use their APO mail service.
Glad I got siblings and mates in US & UK. Get my supply every 3-6 months woooooh