Groceries here are not markedly cheaper than they are in the United States or Europe. Cheaper, but not off-the-charts cheaper. Perhaps because nearly everything here has to be imported. We live in a desert, after all, and eating dates all the time is not really a nutritional strategy. Can ruin your teeth, too.

But there are some bargains. Absolutely. Bottled water is one. A 1.5 liter bottle of water allegedly from mountain streams in the emirate of Fujairah is about 55 cents.

A can of Coke is another bargain. One dirham for a 330 milliliter can. Which is a mere 27 cents U.S.

Turns out, there is a story behind that.

Perhaps as a way to grab market share from Pepsi in an emerging market, Coke has been quite inexpensive here for a long time. That 1-dirham price? Been that way for at least 20 years, and some believe it has been even longer. (Tough to tell, because hardly anyone lived here 20 years ago.)

My newspaper,  The National, recently did a story on this. How Coke is thinking that two-decades-plus without a price hike is far, far too long. And it is, particularly given the rise in income and the demand in the market.

Sweet and sugary soft drinks are even more valued here than they are in the Western world. The religion-based alcohol prohibition is part of it. Not like most folks here go home and have a beer; only the decadent Westerners do that, and maybe a few Filipinos and Indians.

The Arabs might drink juice, but fizzy drinks, and Coke especially, are more fun. Just as sweet, and then there’s the caffeine buzz. Um, yeah. That’s tasty! And cheap. I wonder what the per capita consumption of Coke here is (and it’s a Coke country, I can assure you). It has to be a big number.

Coke, however, has asked the price regulatory agency here for permission to raise the price.  After 20 years-plus at 27 cents per can.

Coke really doesn’t want to go up, as one marketing analyst said in the story linked above, because the cost being pegged to the basic unit of currency — one can o’ Coke for one dirham –  is a powerful price point. (Albeit one of limited profitability.)

Consumers aren’t going to want to go higher than that, especially when Dh1 is such a modest amount of money (again, 27 cents). Especially when so many sales are made one can at a time — as you can tell by the number of loose Coke cans at any supermarket or mini-mart. And especially when any price hike short of doubling it leads to the awkwardness of UAE small change, the dreaded 25- or 50-fil coins (100 fil make one dirham) that even the lowest-paid immigrant laborers don’t seem keen on carrying around. The urge to round everything to the nearest dirham is powerful here.

But Coke long since reached the point where it can’t be making much money on its product.

How much is a six-pack in the States right now? Three dollars? Maybe $2 if you have a sale? $4 if your timing is bad?

Let’s say it’s $3 a sixer: That means a single can is 50 cents — or almost double the price here, where no one pays income tax or sales tax. And to buy one can at a mini-mart? I bet it’s closer to a dollar, in the U.S.

What is fascinating about the price here is how it hasn’t changed in at least 20 years. A time frame during which the UAE, and particularly Abu Dhabi (where I live)  and Dubai have undergone enormous, oil-fueled economic booms.  The idea that any commodity can cost no more now than it did in 1990 is astonishing.

Oil certainly costs a lot more than it did two decades ago. Why shouldn’t Coke?

So, we’re watching to see how this turns out. The 27-cent can of Coke seems about to be history. May as well take it all the way to Dh2. Let the company or the merchant keep the change.