Latest news on food prices… How long will the stock last?

The head of the Food Importers Syndicate, Hani Bohsali, considered in a statement that “the warnings of some reports, issued from time to time, of rising food prices as a result of the continued rise in the cost of shipping due to Red Sea tensions and the continuation of the Russian-Ukrainian war are exaggerated.”

He stressed that “food prices will not be greatly affected by these repercussions, especially since shipping costs have recorded a significant increase in previous times following the Red Sea tensions, and we do not expect any additional significant increases in shipping in the coming period.”

He pointed out that “food importers have taken the necessary measures to limit its repercussions,” reassuring that “the increase in shipping costs now will only have a limited impact on some types of goods.”

In a related context, Bahsali stressed that “after the problems that affected the supply chains to Lebanon due to the Red Sea crisis, food shipments from their global sources to Lebanon have become more balanced, and they are arriving successively, despite the delay caused by passing through the Cape of Good Hope and going around Africa.”

He also stressed that “the quantities of food in Lebanese warehouses are currently sufficient for between two and three months, which is the level they were at before the financial and economic collapse in the last quarter of 2019, i.e. in 2019 and 2018.”