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Ammon News - The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply said Saturday that the prices of staple food commodities in the local market are showing signs of stabilization after the global food crisis resulting from skyrocketing oil prices and soaring shipping fares.

Through the periodic monitoring of food prices, ministry data showed that decreasing global prices became obvious locally, and that is attributed to a competitive market policy, which helped achieve balance in the local market, Minister Yousef Shamali said in a press release.

He pointed to key factors behind retreating prices that directly affect production cost, mainly decreasing global oil prices, as oil is the backbone of transport, production and the availability of staple food items, and the global post-Covid economic recovery.

The minister said that the global staple food rise during the first quarter of the year had hit local prices, though less severe than in global markets, including regional countries, referring to government measures to bolster the commercial sector and ensure sufficient supplies at reasonable prices.

Among these measures were: reduction of test and handling fees on staple commodities, extension of containers' storage time, sale tax cuts on a number of items, such as vegetable oils, in addition to finance tools that helped mitigate the price hike.