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Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Countrywide Weekly Market Report: Issue 236: Week 3 - February 2025

Attachments

Highlights

Food Items: Market prices collected during the third week of February 2025 show a slight decline in the prices of all food commodities due to the re-strengthening of the Afghani against the USD by 0.1%. This decrease follows an increase in prices during the second half of January 2025, which resulted from the depreciation of the Afghani after the suspension of U.S. humanitarian aid. However, The Afghanistan Central Bank/ Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) has announced that in order to maintain and stabilize the value of the Afghani currency, it will auction 20 million US dollars on Tuesday, February 18. Compared to the same period last year, food commodity prices show a mixed trend—while some have decreased, the prices of cooking oil, salt and potato remain significantly higher. Despite recent declines, the current prices of major food items remain substantially above pre-Covid levels except for wheat grain & wheat flours and prices before the political changes in June 2021, except for wheat grain, wheat flours, and cooking oil.

Non-food Items: The national price variations for these commodities. Year-on-year changes show a significant decline in the price of Urea, with slight decline in price of DAP and improved seeds. Similarly, the availability of labour per week and labour wage rates are higher compared to the same period last year. However, when compared to pre-COVID levels and June 2021, the availability of workdays per week has declined, indicating a reduction in labour opportunities in the country.

Diesel: The national average diesel price was AFN 61.6 per litre in the 3rd week of February 2025, down by 1.0% from last week and higher by 1% compared to last year same time. It remains 37% higher than pre-Covid levels and 25% above June 2021 prices. As of February 10, 2025, the global average diesel price is $1.20 per litre, which vary significantly across countries, with major oil-producing and exporting nations having substantially lower diesel prices. Average prices of non-food commodities also experienced a slight decline compared to last week, driven by changes in the exchange rate. Due to limited labour opportunities during the winter, labour wage rates are at their lowest compared to other seasons. Similarly, the demand for non-food items, such as fertilizers and improved seeds, decreases during the winter, resulting in minimal

Winter Fuel Items: Winter fuel prices felt compared to last week: liquid gas price negligibly decreased by 1.6%, charcoal, by 0.7%, coal by 0.8%, balot wood by 1.2%, pine wood by 0.2%, and wood flour by 0.5% . Year-on-year, the prices of charcoal, pine wood, balot wood, and gas increased by 9%, 7%, 5% and 1%, respectively. While wood flour and coal dropped by 16% and 2%.