AMMAN — Representative of the food
industries sectors at the
Jordan Chamber of Industry Mohammad
Al-Jeitan said that prices in Jordan are now “almost stable”, due to the existence
of stocks of goods, but that a rise in prices may be expected.
اضافة اعلان
He told
Jordan News that the
rise in oil prices, especially in Jordan, “is not new; they began to rise
gradually in August 2020, because vegetable oil is not produced in Jordan, it
is only packaged here after importing it.”
He said that this rise in the price
of vegetable oil started during the COVID-19 pandemic, as there was “great
demand for it and shortage of agricultural crops.”
Prices in Jordan are currently
rising, according to Jeitan, “but no increase is expected during the holy month
of Ramadan.”
“We have a safe stock of products, sufficient
for the month of Ramadan and beyond,” he added.
Mohamed Obeidat, head of the
National Society for Consumer Protection, told
Jordan News that “the
prices of basic products such as oils and some types of vegetables are high for
illogical reasons known only to the monopolists.”
He added that “if the
Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply does not take legal measures regarding product prices,
they will continue to rise. The ministry has the duty to control the markets,
set price ceilings, and try to sell all basic products in the civil and
military consumer corporations through ration cards or any other means it deems
appropriate.”
Obeidat also said that there are
sufficient quantities of basic products in the markets, “but we need control
from the ministry, on the one hand, and rationality from the consumers when
buying their needs, on the other; they have to buy certain quantities that meet
their needs only.”
Industry Ministry spokesperson
Yanal Barmawi told
Jordan News that the ministry continuously monitors the
local markets and is keen to secure abundance of stocks, adding that it works
constantly, in coordination with the industrial and commercial sectors, to meet
the needs of citizens.
Barmawi said that the ministry
constantly monitors the prices of basic commodities and any price increases
that may occur “in order to take the needed measures based on the provisions of
the Industry and Trade Law”.
“When it turns out that there is an
exaggeration in prices, some measures are taken, including setting price
ceilings for some commodities,” he added.
According to Barmawi, the stock of
food commodities is sufficient, prices are generally stable, “and in light of
the meetings held by the ministry with the concerned authorities, there will be
no price hikes in the month of Ramadan”.
The head of the
Amman Chamber of Commerce, Khalil Haj Tawfiq, said on Monday, during a meeting of the General
Association for Foodstuffs Merchants, that the government only imports wheat
from abroad, adding that the rise in oil prices has nothing to do with the
Russian-Ukrainian war.
He also said that the prices of
dates will be stable in Ramadan because Jordan imports them from Saudi Arabia.
He added that merchants are now
suffering from citizens’ weak purchasing power, pointing out that the
Russian-Ukrainian war doubled the burden due to the high cost of shipping.
At the same time, he pointed out
that
Food and Agricultural Organization studies show a rise in prices of foodstuff
months before the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Jordan consumes 120,000 tonnes of
oil, he said, stressing that the price of oil in Jordan is among the lowest in
the region, including in the countries that export oil, and that the government
does not agree with the traders who wish to raise prices.
Haj Tawfiq called for the abolition
of the sales tax on some foodstuffs, as most basic materials are exempt from
customs, adding that the demand for corn oil has decreased, as 60 percent of
the world's exports of sunflower oil are from Ukraine and Russia, which caused
a problem in countries, and that palm oil price has risen globally. He called
for a change in the consumption pattern of sunflower oil.
He added that the local market
consumes 100,000 tonnes of rice. The price of rice reached $1,400 in the US and
that of basmati rice grew in the country of origin (India), and these types of
rice constitute a large part of the local market consumption.
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