According to the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, more than 1,500 gold and jewelry shops in the Kingdom have been closed down during the past five years as a result of increasing gold prices and decreasing demand for jewelry. Ziyad Farsi, deputy chairman of Makkah Chamber, said many gold traders in the Kingdom had suffered heavy losses as a result of a sharp fall in sales. "Many of these traders have been supporting their jewelry shops using revenues from other businesses," Farsi pointed out in a recent report to Arab News newspaper.