Atwasat

Libya's wheat and flour prices prices increased up to 30% within first week of Ukraine conflict




Alwasat - Cairo Mon 21 Mar 2022, 04:47 PM
alwasat radio

The international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch has monitored the rise in food prices in Libya as a result of the war in Ukraine.

In a report on the conflict's impact on the Middle East and North Africa region, the organization indicated that Libya's wheat and flour prices prices increased by up to 30% within the first week, as concerns about stock interruptions rose.

Wheat from Ukraine imports constitute more than 40% of Libya's imports of the commodity, according to the organization.

Libya's Ministry of Economy and Trade has made assurances regarding the existence of strategic reserves of wheat for six months, but this did not prevent product runs and price hikes in several Libyan cities.

The organization highlighted the ministry’s decision on March 7 to impose measures to prevent a comprehensive bread crisis. The ministry also passed punitive measures such as freezing the commercial registration of flour companies and mills that are not committed to the distribution mechanism approved by the ministry, which imposes a unified price for flour and increasing the strategic stock of wheat to enable flour mills to work at full production capacity for at least three months.

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