DOHA: The Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP) has denied media reports suggesting that the recent decision of Saudi Arabia banning exports of certain types of vegetables has caused a major rise in prices of the perishables in the local market.
QNFSP has come out with a market survey, which, it said, has found that the ban has only a limited impact on the Qatari market.
The Saudi Ministry of Agriculture has issued a decree banning the export of potatoes, watermelon, dry onion, sweet melon and pumpkin. The ban came into force on September 17.
A section of the Arabic press spoke of a new wave of price hike including a possible 30-40 percent increase in the prices of potatoes.
“Looking at retail prices of the five products over the past two weeks provided by the Consumer Protection Department (CPD) we see no significant changes in these prices,” QNFSP said yesterday citing the study.
“Out of all the products, potatoes are more likely to have a slight price increase in the interim due to the Saudi ban and a large local demand. For the other four products prices may also increase but to a lesser extent and mainly due to other factors such as increased land transportation costs and seasonal variations,” it added.
Currently Qatar imports more than 65 per cent of its needs of potato from Saudi Arabia, said the statement.
Underlining that Saudi Arabia is “the major importing source for pumpkin, watermelon, sweet melon and potatoes,” the study said “onions are mainly imported from India, whose prices are similar to those of Saudi Arabia”.
It added that Saudi Arabia’s dominance in the Qatari markets for these vegetables is largely due to the highly perishable nature of those products and KSA being the closest producer; and the small size of the Qatari market.
The study noted that alternative suppliers of these products are available in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, India, Turkey, Iran, China and others, some of whose unit prices are comparable to those of Saudi Arabia.
Commenting on the study, Executive Chairman of QNFSP Fahad bin Mohamed Al Attiya said: “The new development shows the potential to easily increase local production for at least some of these crops, like watermelon, sweet melon and pumpkin. Local producers can take advantage of the market needs and relatively high prices. According to the study, the current situation provides a good incentive for increased local production of vegetables including potatoes which can also be easily stored for long time with appropriate storage facilities.
