(03) The Impact of the Russian-Ukrainian War on the Consumer Prices of Food Products in Saudi Arabia, Profs Adel Ghanem, Othman Al-Nashwan, Sahar Kamara and Said Ahamada
Prof. Adel Mohammed Khalifa Ghanem
Food Security Unit, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences
King Saud University
Saudi Arabia
Prof. Othman Saad Al-Nashwan
Food Security Unit, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences
King Saud University
Saudi Arabia
Prof. Sahar Abdel Moneim kamara
Head of Research, Agricultural Economics Research Institute
Agricultural Research Center
Egypt
Said Azali Ahamada*
Food Security Unit, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences
King Saud University
Saudi Arabia
Email: said@wasd.org.uk
DOI: 10.47556/J.IJFNPH.13.1-2.2023.3
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on consumer prices of food products in Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: To achieve its objectives, this research relied on the equations of joint integration to study the factors determining consumer prices for foodstuffs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period 1990-2021. The Consumer Price Index of food products was then calculated during the year of the war (2022) and was compared to the pre-war period (1990-2021).
Results: The findings of this study reveal significant differences between the average Consumer Price Index of food products in Saudi Arabia before and during the Russian-Ukrainian war in relation to bread, cereals, meat, poultry, fish, milk and its products, as well as eggs, oils, fats, vegetables, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, and sweets, amongst others. On the other hand, differences in price for fruits and nuts were discovered to be insignificant. It was also found that there was an increase in the World Food Price Index and the total population of Saudi Arabia during the study period (1990-2021) by 10%. Consequently, both these factors had an impact on increasing the Consumer Price Index of food products by 1.22% and 4.95%, respectively. Moreover, the Consumer Price Index of food products in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach 137.7 in 2022, which is 12.2% more than it was in 2021. In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the supply of food commodities to Saudi Arabia is affected, having obvious implications on strategic stocks. It is imperative that strategic stocks are sufficient enough to allow food commodities in the Kingdom to continue flowing to local markets, thus enabling the government to control inflation and rising prices
Keywords: Russian-Ukrainian war; Consumer Prices; Food Products; Saudi Arabia.
