By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: President of Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies Baddah Al-Dosari held a meeting on Tuesday with companies and institutions that supply commodities, foodstuff and consumer and basic goods to discuss food security and present the obstacles they face in marketing and providing products in the market.

Dosari told Kuwait Times that the suppliers demanded in the meeting that the union should take action to convince the ministry of commerce to allow suppliers to increase prices. “Most of the companies talked about law number 67 issued by the ministry of commerce. The union had previously formed a committee to study proposals to find solutions that benefit both sides - the consumer and suppliers - while several suggestions were made by the committee. But the dissolution of the National Assembly, elections and the formation of the government delayed studying the suggestions that were made at that time by this committee,” he said.

President of Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies Baddah Al-Dosari

Meanwhile, Dosari pointed out that the demands of the suppliers and companies are clear. “They want to increase prices of products due to global inflation, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, maritime traffic, petroleum derivatives and the oil price rise in global markets,” he said, adding the union is “aware and considering their situation”.

He explained that the union listened to suppliers’ complaints and decided to send them to the ministry of commerce, especially after they warned supplies of some essential products such as high-quality baby milk could be stopped by suppliers abroad due to the fixed prices in the Kuwaiti market. They called on the union for a quick solution with the ministry of commerce.

Regarding the percentage of cost increases local companies and suppliers are claiming, Dosari said: “A specific increase was not specified, but they demanded comparison with countries in the GCC. The companies mentioned Saudi Arabia as an example, but if comparison is made with them after excluding tax, a great difference can be noted.”