JEDDAH, 16 April 2008 — Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday warned profiteers who sell flour at prices higher than those set by the General Organization for Grain Silos and Flourmills (GOGSF), saying they will be detained and their shops shut.
In a statement issued yesterday, Prince Naif urged regional governors and other agencies to punish those traders who sell flour at exorbitant prices. He also imposed a ban on the sale of flour as cattle feed. The minister gave the directive in order to prevent a repeat of the flour crisis that hit people in many parts of the Kingdom last month.
Flour is heavily subsidized in the Kingdom and its price has remained the same for the last 30 years. This has encouraged some people to smuggle flour to neighboring countries to make quick money. The use of flour as a major raw material by big food factories, such as those manufacturing candies and sweets, was another reason for the shortage of flour in the Kingdom. Many farmers used flour to feed their cattle when prices of the usual cattle feed went up.
Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahd Balghunaim has also urged farmers not to use flour as cattle feed as it would not only jeopardize supply but also harm their animals. He refuted suggestions that the flour crisis was created by a delay in the opening of new mills. “The increased use of flour in place of rice, when the prices of rice went up, was another reason for the growing demand,” he told Al-Eqtisadiah daily.
Balghunaim said four new flourmills that would open in Madinah, Hail, Al-Jouf and Riyadh would make available an additional 16 million bags of flour weighing 45 kg each annually, bringing the total supply to 70 million bags. “Total output of these new mills will reach 48,000 bags daily and 16 million bags annually,” he said.
