Prices of commodities likely to be revised after Eid break; Traders air grievances

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KUWAIT CITY, April 26: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry will issue a new decision after the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, to cancel the earlier decision which was issued to streamline the food prices, saying the ministry officials during the last period reviewed the causes and repercussions of the decision and concluded that it is necessary to reconsider it, reports Al-Rai daily quoting well Informed sources. The sources pointed out that a group of companies (food suppliers) recently contacted Minister Fahd Al-Sharia’an and conveyed to him the changes that have occurred in global markets, which led to fundamental adjustments in prices and explained to the minister the difficulty they face to ensure adequate food supply in the Kuwaiti market if the decision to fix prices continues, because it puts the suppliers under pressure to bear the cost difference.

The sources indicated that in the recent period, noticeable cargoes of goods and foodstuffs from Kuwait have been making a detour to other Gulf markets due to the price difference of up to 20 percent. The sources indicated the food suppliers said it is surprising all other decisions related to the Covid- 19 pandemic, have been cancelled while only the decision related to price-fixing has remained, despite the changes that have taken place and the increasing global demand for food commodities in an unprecedented manner, which raised their prices to unprecedented rates as well, in addition to the complications imposed by the Ukraine war, which increased the problems of global transport chains. The move of the companies in this direction comes at a time when the World Food and Agriculture Organization Price Index has recorded a big jump in March in the cereal index by 170.1 points, an increase of 24.9 points (17.1%) from its level recorded in February, to reach, however, its highest level since 1990.

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