Potatoes, oil, milk: Algeria haunted by shortages

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20/09/2022
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Barely out of an unprecedented crisis of the potato that occupied opinion for long weeks, and which almost turned to the riot, Algeria faces serious shortages which simultaneously affect twoBasic products subsidized by the state: table oil and packaged milk.

Sensible au mot «pénurie», qui revient pourtant régulièrement dans les médias, le gouvernement n'en reconnaît pas officiellement l'existence, préférant parler de «perturbation dans la distribution», ou de «déséquilibre entre l'offre et la demande».This does not prevent the executive from multiplying the drastic control measures, one which ready to smile: the Minister of Commerce, Kamel Rezig, announced, very solemnly, the prohibition of the sale of table oil tominors, while threatening to rage against offenders.Why minors?According to the minister, speculators carpet in the shadow and with a limitless voracity use it all over the country to recover and store large quantities of this product, in order to resell them more expensive or, more serious, even more serious,to export them fraudulently to neighboring countries.

You should know that with a price capped at 120 dinars the liter of subsidized oil and the obligation to pay VAT, the traders complained of no longer being able to make a profit and ended up turning away from the product, leavingthe free field to speculators who sell him in smuggling, and much more expensive than the price imposed by the State.

Uncontrollable speculators

To harden controls on the distribution of oil, the authorities now require that all cargoes coming out of the different factories be escorted by a gendarmerie unit.All eyes therefore turned to the largest oil production complex in the country, the Cevital group, based in Béjaïa.With 475.000 tonnes per year, it provides almost 80% of national needs, which allows it to have an almost total monopoly of this wide consumption product.

Son patron, Issad Rebrab, s'était déjà exprimé plusieurs fois sur ces pénuries récurrentes depuis près de vingt ans, en les expliquant, en partie, par une intense contrebande vers les pays voisins (Tunisie, Sahel) qu'opéreraient des spéculateurs apparemment incontrôlables.A way also to make people understand that only the authorities have the means to stop the hemorrhage.

In addition, the services of the Ministry of Commerce mobilized teams to control market supply operations and to follow the journeys of each cargo.Another measure taken in emergency: summarize the producers to increase production and ensure monitoring of distribution at the wilayas (departments), where disturbances have been reported, by focusing on a total of 2.000 tonnes/day, while national needs do not exceed 1.600 tonnes/day.Same pressures exerted on restaurateurs and other traditional pastry chefs who now prohibit using bottles of one, two or five liters.

Who wants to set fire to the powder?

To this inextricable crisis came to graft a shortage of milk and its derivatives. Tout aussi sensible mais plus facile à cerner, celle-ci s'explique par une hausse des prix de la matière première dans le monde, et touche actuellement plusieurs pays de la région, la Tunisie et le Liban en particulier.Persistent rumors, and quickly denied, on the imminent closure of the two factories of Candia, one of the main manufacturers of conditioned milks and yogurts in Algeria, almost set fire to the powder. La filiale a promis une reprise normale de la production dès la deuxième semaine de janvier, mais, là aussi, à l'instar de l'huile végétale, le problème de la mauvaise distribution –véritable point faible de l'économie algérienne– continuera à se poser.

For economist Mohamed Achir, interviewed by Slate, this crisis is essentially the result of "dysfunctions in the economic distribution system".Without denying the weight of informal speculation networks, it points to the flaws in the control and regulation system.To get out, "the state must play an effective regulator role," he insists.

In this war economy which does not say its name, everything is therefore used to try to stem a crisis whose power knows that it can seriously shake social peace. Si le gouvernement promet un retour rapide à la normale, il ne peut encore rien faire avant la remise, dans deux semaines, du rapport de la commission d'enquête parlementaire qui a été diligentée pour faire la lumière sur cette affaire des pénuries.

End of the welfare state

That said, behind the scenes, some make a direct link between the emergence of these shortages and the decision announced with great fanfare by the current power to lift soon, and according to a calendar which goes until 2023, the subsidiesGiven to basic products (oil, sugar, flour, milk powder, petrol, etc.), thus announcing the end of the welfare state.These subsidies, which cost the state $ 17 billion a year, maintain prices at levels accessible to small scholarships and therefore benefit industrialists.

This scenario recalls facts that occurred in 2011, in the middle of the Arab Spring, when the government of the time had threatened to suspend subsidies and demand invoicing for all commercial transactions.A suspicious shortage of oil had immediately caused riots that had ignited the country for several days.Calm had only returned to the suspension of the two decisions.