ReliefWeb

Highlights

WFP has more than 20 years of experience in price data collection in Afghanistan. Until recently, WFP collected price data on a weekly basis for 17 food and non-food commodities from 8 main cities in the country where WFP has its offices, and produced weekly heads up notes and monthly market price bulletins containing information on food access and availability of food in the markets. As COVID-19 outbreak increased and affected food and non-food commodity prices, WFP launched daily market price bulletins using data from these 8 cities, while establishing a system for market price monitoring and data collection to all 34 provinces of the country, adding 9 extra commodities to the analysis, including livelihood related items (fertilizers, improved seed and animal feed) based on requests from the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Data collection was launched during the first week of May 2020 in all the 34 provincial capitals, while maintaining the daily bulletins until 31 May 2020. The second and third bulletins covering week 3 and 4 weeks of May 2020 were circulated on 7 June 2020, while fourth bulletin covering week 1 of June 2020 will be issued on 10 June 2020. Following this, WFP will regularise the issue ofits weekly bulletins every Wednesday covering the market trends of the previous week.

Situation Update

• in the main city markets , compared to 14 March 2020 (pre-COVID-19 prices):

  • The average wheat flour price (high price & low price) in the main city markets is 19% higher;

  • The average price of cooking oil was 36% percent higher;

  • The average price of Pulses was 32% higher;

  • The average price of Sugar was 19% higher;

  • The average price of rice (high & low quality) were 8% and 22% higher, respectively;

  • Casual laborers’ and pastoralists’ purchasing power have deteriorated by 12% and 15%, mainly due to increased wheat prices.