A number of Saudi importers have warned of an impending crisis in the availability of vegetables over the next two weeks. They also warned that the prices of chicken might increase. Importers said their predictions were based on warnings they had received about eastern European countries buying large quantities of vegetables at high prices. These countries, including Russia, have asked Egypt to sell them all of its stock of vegetable produce at any price and without any quality checks. Officials at Egyptian companies told Saudi importers last week that they should buy whatever they need of Egypt's produce as soon as they can, before the country exported its stock to eastern Europe. Some importers said they are waiting for European markets to open on Monday to estimate the size of the eastern European orders of Egyptian production. They said that the stockpiles they already have in the Kingdom would last for two more months at best, after which they will have to buy new produce at much higher prices. Mahir Al-Aqeeli, a vegetable importer, said that he, in conjunction with other importers, is buying large quantities of vegetables and storing them in refrigeration storage facilities in Egypt. “We are now at the end of the okra and molokheya seasons, during which prices are usually low,” he said, “but the European markets importing Egypt's agricultural production might cause prices to skyrocket.” He added that exporters might raise their prices within the next two weeks, while importers are scrambling to stabilize prices by observing the demand for okra and molokheya in local markets. Al-Aqeeli said that vegetables cannot be stored for more than three months because of their short sell-by dates. “It doesn't end at that, as storing vegetables is particularly costly,” said Aqeeli. He added strawberry production is also being pulled from markets by Europeans – as it is its high season – which would compel major juice companies to start buying strawberry from local importers instead of importing it directly like they used to. This will reduce these companies' profits due to higher costs. Also, the prices of imported chicken are expected to increase after the increases in the prices of fodder and soybean. Bassam Al-Ali, A Saudi importer of chicken, said that the prices are stable for the time being. “The prices (of chicken) will remain stable until – at least – the end of April, due to market calculations based on the value of the US dollar and oil and fodder prices,” he said. He added that another reason for the temporary stability is that available quantities of chicken will not be externally affected. The prices of poultry – local and imported – have recently witnessed successive increases because of increases in the prices of basic materials for poultry food. __
