Provision price in Syrian Trading consistent with markets in Syria’s Aleppo
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Residents from the city of Aleppo, north Syria, say that the price of foodstuffs in the Syrian Trading Center are now the same as those in the markets, except for limited allocations of three subsidized provisions.
“Is it possible to sell each kilogram of meat for 13,000 Syrian pounds (SYP) while butchers sell it for 10,000 SYP in markets?” Hamdaniya resident Abdulaziz Kurdi wondered.
The Syrian Trading Center that was established by Syrian government in 2017 has been providing sugar and rice allocations through a smart card; however, they have removed tea allocations since April and recently added vegetable oil.
Meanwhile, families from Aleppo say that these allocations will not be of great benefit unless the Center provides other basic foodstuffs for cheaper prices than the markets.
During the past few months, price of foodstuffs and basic provisions have increased, especially for the imported goods, due to the exchange rate of American dollar. Each kilogram of tea has reached 13,000 SYP.
During this week, the exchange rate of US dollar exceeded 2,900 SYP.
Syrian Trading justifies the shortage in some foodstuffs by claiming that they are unavailable.
Last month, Syrian Trading published on its Facebook account that it would distribute vegetable oil in addition to sugar and rice.
However, Abdulsamad Masri said that the Center provided each family with only two bottles of vegetable oil (two litters of oil) regardless of how many members there were in the family, forcing him and others to buy each bottle for 2,600 SYP from the markets.
Meanwhile, the Center sells each bottle at 2,900 SYP.
A manager of a hall in the Center in Bab Hadid, Shaher Mawlawi, said that quantities of sunflower oil they had were sufficient for two months’ allocations, after seven months of stopping distribution.
He pointed to faults that occurred in the operating system of the smart card, as a shortage of 100 KG of sugar in the warehouse that he was responsible for caused the management to be fined 300,000 SYP.