Five days after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, there is only a slight drop in the price of edibles from Egypt. A box of Egyptian navel oranges now costs SR30 after rising to SR40 last week when the crisis was at its peak. The price of a box of navel oranges prior to the popular uprising was around SR20, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper said.

The case is similar with other fruit and vegetables. The price of a box of strawberries, which had soared more than three times to SR50 during the Egyptian protests, has now reached SR30, almost double the actual price.

Shoppers in Riyadh have also noted an increase in the price of fruit and vegetables from other countries. These price increases, however, are thought to be because of the prolonged winter that has affected crops in some parts of the world.

Muhammad Al-Odaini, a salesman at the fruit and vegetables market in Riyadh, said that the price of a box of Egyptian guava reached SR25 during the political crisis and has now fallen to SR20. The normal price of a box was about SR18 before the crisis, he said.

The Kingdom is the largest importer of Egyptian oranges and that 86,000 tons of oranges worth SR110 million come to Saudi Arabia from Egypt each year.

“There has been a decrease in Egyptian fruits such as oranges, guava, potatoes and strawberries coming to the Kingdom. There is every likelihood of a further decrease in the import of Egyptian fruit and vegetables into the Kingdom over the coming days,” they said.

Saudi Arabia imports fruit and vegetables mainly from Egypt, China, India, Pakistan, France, the United States, Chile, the Philippines and South Africa.