Alert for bananas and red meat…and these measures are mandatory! – Al-Shorouk Online

The Ministry of Internal Trade and National Market Control began holding field and guidance meetings at the central and local levels, within the framework of monitoring market supply and ensuring the stability of prices of widely consumed items, especially bananas and red meat. It issued strict instructions to ensure price stability, prevent speculation and ensure abundance.
In this context, on October 29, 2026, a working session was held using teleconference technology, chaired by central executives at the Ministry of Internal Trade and National Market Control, during which strict directives were provided regarding controlling the supply of bananas, as well as monitoring the prices applied when marketing imported and local red meat. The central directives stressed the need to ensure respect for the transparency of commercial practices and profit margins specified in the applicable legal and regulatory texts, to protect the purchasing power of the citizen.
The meeting was attended, in addition to the Director of Commerce of the State of Algiers, the Director of Agricultural Services of the State of Algiers, representatives of the security services from the National Security and the National Gendarmerie, the representative of the veterinary services, and executives from the Directorate of Commerce. Several meetings are also being arranged with the Commerce Directors of the States via teleconference technology.
The new measures initiated by the authorities to regulate the banana market include setting a binding price ceiling not to exceed 420 dinars to 450 dinars per kilogram, with strict instructions for control agents to intervene immediately and seize any quantity offered at a higher price, and take legal measures against violators. The follow-up mechanism includes monitoring bananas from the time they enter the national territory through the ports, passing through the ripening and cooling rooms, all the way to the wholesale and retail markets and large areas, where the focus is on monitoring invoices, structuring prices and profit margins. The course of the material is tracked to determine the source of any unjustified increase. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Export Promotion also approved a ceiling on the import price not to exceed one dollar per kilogram, to break the monopoly, after recording serious violations and taking measures against many importers involved in speculation.
Regarding red meat, the measures stipulate the implementation of the executive decree issued in April 2024, which precisely specifies profit margins, which are 4 percent for the importer, 5 percent for the wholesaler, and 8 percent for the retailer, while reducing customs duties to 5 percent in the 2026 Finance Law, and opening an immediate investigation into the role of some importers in monopolizing meat and selling imported meat at the local price, which jumped to 3,000 dinars per kilogram, while monitoring price differences between states and neighborhoods.
These instructions come within the framework of a comprehensive national strategy to regulate the national market, which is based on moving from the logic of circumstantial follow-up to a permanent and continuous regulatory system. According to the directives of the Council of Ministers held on October 18, the President of the Republic ordered the preparation of a draft text to strictly regulate the activity of sales intermediaries between producers and citizens, and the creation of a mechanism that allows the purchase of surplus local products, storing them, and then offering them as soon as the first signs of rising prices are recorded, with the aim of protecting purchasing power and preventing any vacuum that opens the door to speculation.
As for bananas, which have become a sensitive material in the market, the plan depends on regulating the import by linking the bank settlement document to a new terms and conditions book, and monitoring the price structure since the material was acquired by the importer and comparing it to the price offered to the consumer. The oversight services have intensified their field outings in the morning and evening across major areas and points of sale, while obliging merchants to present invoices and track the path of the product, as every customer who exceeds the ceiling of 420 dinars faces immediate reservation procedures.
In the same context, within the framework of implementing the instructions of the President of the Republic regarding the establishment of a national mechanism for monitoring prices, and in accordance with the directives of the Prime Minister, on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at the National School of Hotels and Catering, a training day was organized for the benefit of 250 executives from various states of the country on the new mechanism for monitoring prices and the availability of consumer materials. The training session was organized by the interests of the Prime Minister in coordination with the Ministry of Internal Trade and National Market Control, the High Prefecture for Digitization, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Marine Fishing. This integrated digital system follows the path of supply through a system that is compatible with the national data governance system, allowing the data related to supplying the national market to be followed up and updated, providing a comprehensive view on the status of the availability of basic materials, monitoring potential imbalances, and strengthening follow-up and control mechanisms.