AMMAN —
Representative of the food industries sectors at the
Jordan Chamber of Industry Mohammad Al-Jeitan said food prices cannot be expected to stay stable for long,
in light of the rise in prices of raw materials and foodstuffs globally.
اضافة اعلان
Jeitan told
Jordan News that the price of no
product will stay unchanged a year or more from now, except for bread “if the
situation remains as it is”; the reason, he said, is that wheat stocks exist
and are sufficient for about 12-15 months, the price of bread is set by the
government, “and there is no increase in the prices of its input ingredients”.
He added that
there are stocks of vegetable oils in Jordan, “and other foodstuffs are
available too”, but the availability of stocks of these products “varies
between 4 and 6 months”.
Executive
Director of the
Consumer Protection Society Maher Al-Hajjat told
Jordan News that if the government does not take appropriate measures to prevent price
increases, “there will be price chaos”.
Hajjat added
that “the most important measures that the government should take are to search
for new import markets, preferably from neighboring countries to reduce transportation
costs, doing an inventory of all the goods in merchants’ warehouses, and to
find out the amount of strategic stocks to ensure that there is no increase in
the prices of these goods under the pretext that they were imported after the
Russian-Ukrainian conflict”.
Hajjat stressed
that the government should tighten control over and set price ceilings on basic
commodities.
Mahmood Omari, a
merchant, told
Jordan News that the trade movement is reduced, due to
the difficult economic conditions since the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and
that, according to the law of supply and demand, the low demand should preclude
an increase in prices.
Suhaib
Abdel-Khaliq, yet another merchant, told
Jordan News that that there are
reasonable reasons for the rise in prices: “the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and
the high prices of some products in the country of origin, as a result, in
addition to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
He, however,
admitted that this rise cannot continue “due to the difficult economic
situation” of the population.
Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply Spokesperson Yanal Barmawi told
Jordan News that
“conditions change from time to time, and it is not possible to predict whether
prices will rise during the coming period or not, especially since the rise in
prices is linked to several factors, but it can be said that the food situation
in Jordan is under control and that the food stock is sufficient and good, and
that gives an indication that prices will remain stable”.
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