The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) recently monitored large-scale purchases of some main commodities, especially edible oils and various food outlets by hoarders, which indicate that foodstuffs have been unconventionally stored.
A local Arabic daily quoting sources said some major commodities ‘disappearing’ from the markets look “suspicious” and the concerned authority believes that the this phenomenon points a finger in one direction – the commodities are finding their way to storages to be sold on the black market expecting shortage of foodstuffs in future due to the increasing level of global inflation, especially the most vital consumer goods, fearing these products may be scarce in the near future such as grains and their derivatives.