Hani Bohsali, President of the Union of Food Importers, assured on Tuesday that food prices would remain stable. In a statement, he described some reports of a rise in food prices due to the continuing rise in sea freight costs as a result of tensions in the Red Sea and the continuing Russian-Ukrainian war, as “exaggerated.”
Bohsali stressed that food prices will not be greatly affected, especially as transport costs have admittedly risen significantly in the past as a result of tensions in the Red Sea, but no further significant increases are expected in the period ahead.
He stressed that “food importers have taken the necessary steps to limit the repercussions of this increase, which will have only a limited impact on certain types of goods.”
In the same framework, Bohsali affirmed that after the problems that affected Lebanon’s supply chains following the crisis in the Red Sea, food shipments to Lebanon are now more regular and arriving successively, despite the delay caused by the detour around the Cape of Good Hope.
He also confirmed that the quantities of food stored in Lebanese warehouses are currently sufficient for two to three months, a normal pre-2019 average.
