NANGARHAR PROVINCE
— MARKET MONITORING
mVAM AFGHANISTAN - MARKET MONITORING BULLETIN #2
April 2017
KEY FINDINGS




The Torkham border closure had considerable impact on the food availability and prices in the district markets of Nangarhar province, particularly for perishable foods such as fruits and
vegetables. However, it had limited impact on the food availability and prices of staple foods such as wheat flour, rice and cooking oil, which was mainly because wholesalers in the
markets had substantial stock of these staple food commodities, as well as a steady supply of these foods coming in from Tajikistan and Iran.
The main supply chain of food commodities to most districts of Nangarhar province is from Jalalabad City, the capital of Nangarhar province; thus the increase in prices and limited
availability of perishable food (fruits and vegetables) in Jalalabad City impacted on these district markets of Nangarhar province.
Trader food supply chain access from Jalalabad City to the district markets of Kot, Muhmand Dara, Achin, Deh Bala and Dur Baba districts is limited, mainly due to insecurity. The local
people in these districts are also facing security concerns when accessing the markets.
It is reported by the traders that the number of customers increased over the last 6 months in all the district markets except in Deh Balah market which has limited/no IDPs and
returnees. The increase in number of customers in these districts is mainly due to the arrival of the returnees from Pakistan and increased numbers of IDPs in the district towns.
However, there is no indication of any considerable negative impact of the IDPs and returnees on the markets.
ASSESSMENT BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY
The impact of the
border closure on the
markets in orange
districts was limited.
The prices increased
in a normal range,
with only limited food
shortages and access
issues reported.
In September 2016, WFP conducted a face-to-face market survey in 6 district (Behsud,
Khowgiani, Rodat, Jalalabad City, Bati kot and Surkh Rod) markets of Nangarhar
province in order to assess the suitability of using cash-based assistance for returnees
and IDPs. The findings of this assessment helped WFP to prioritize cash or in-kind support
to the returnees based on the market functions.
The Torkham border, which is the main supply route to the markets in the eastern region
of Afghanistan was closed in March 2017 and remained closed for 3 weeks. An mVAM
market assessment was conducted by WFP from 19-23 March in order to assess the
Torkham border closure and its impact on food prices, supply and availability in the
district markets of Nangarhar province.
The findings of this report are only based on a mobile survey (mVAM). The
information in this assessment is collected from the traders in the all the districts of
Nangarhar province except Dur Baba, Hesarak, Nazian and Pachier Agam districts,
manly due to lack of availability of trader phone numbers. A total of 93 interviews were
conducted with the traders in 18 districts of Nangarhar province. For each district, 5
interviews were conducted, except for Jalalabad (provincial centre) in which a total of 8
interviews were conducted.
The impact of the border
closure on the markets in
red districts was great
compared to the other
Kabul
districts,
characterized by
limited market access,
increase in prices and
decreased availability of
food reported.
Dara-eNur
Kuz Kunar
Behsud
Surkh Rod
Hesarak
Khowgiani
Sherzad
Jalalabad
Goshta
Lal Pur
Chaparhar
Rodat
Bati Kot
Shinwar
Pachier
Agam
Deh
Bala
Kot
The districts in green have large scale markets, with food prices,
stocks and access to the markets in good conditions. These markets
are well connected to the market of Jalalabad.
1
Kama
Muhmand
Dara
Dur Baba
Achin
Nazian
Not assessed
REPORT RELEASED 24 April 2017
NANGARHAR PROVINCE— mVAM MARKET MONITORING BULLETIN #2 — April 2017
Figure 2: Average prices of food commodities in the district markets of
Nangarhar province during the Torkham border closure.
Food Prices
The impact of the border closure on the food prices in most of the district markets of
Nangarhar province was limited, with only a few higher prices reported for specific
commodities in some district markets. Increases in the price of sugar was report in Achin (28
percent), in Goshta (10 percent) and in Kuz Kunar (14 percent) compared to the average
price in Jalalabad City before the border closure (February 2017). In addition there were
reported increases in the price of rice in Achin (26 percent) and Lal Pur (16 percent)
markets, as well as increases in cooking oil in Dur Baba (13 percent), Goshta (14 percent)
and Muhmand Dara (11 percent) compared to the average price of Jalalabad City. Main
reasons for these increases are due to border closure and limited supply, as well insecurity
for the traders to supply food commodities from Jalalabad main city markets.
The price for wheat flour in all the assessed district markets remained stable, which was
mainly due to availability of the stock with the traders as well arrival of wheat flour from
Kazakhstan.
Figure 1. Percentage changes in wheat flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil prices before
and after Torkham border closure
District Name
Achin
Bati Kot
Behsud
Chaparhar
Dara-e-Nur
Deh Bala
Dur Baba
Goshta
Jalalabad
Kama
Khowgiani
Kot
Kuz Kunar
Lal Pur
Muhmand Dara
Rodat
Sherzad
Shinwar
Surkh Rod
***Jalalabad main
city average price
****Nangarhar
average price
Note: In the above graph, the average of all the districts that are assessed through mVAM during the border
closure and average price of Jalalabad main city before the border closure (Feb 2017) is compared, which is
collected though face-to-face assessment.
2
*Wheat flour **Rice
27
95
26
80
26
81
25
81
26
77
26
80
27
78
25
80
25
78
25
80
25
77
25
78
25
75
25
88
25
79
25
76
28
79
25
78
26
78
Sugar
65
53
53
54
52
55
51
56
56
51
54
54
58
52
52
52
56
56
53
Cooking Oil
83
79
80
81
82
81
87
87
80
79
79
82
80
80
85
79
79
81
80
26
75
51
77
26
80
54
81
Note: All the is for high prices in the above table is in AFN/Kg-Lit
* Wheat flour price high quality
** Rice price is collected for high quality
*** The Jalalabad main city average price is for the month of February 2017 (before border
closure). This price is collected through face-to-face assessment.
**** The Nangarhar average price is based on average from all the assessed districts of
Nangarhar province. This information is collected through mVAM during the Torkham border
closure.
REPORT RELEASED 24 April 2017
2
NANGARHAR PROVINCE— mVAM MARKET MONITORING BULLETIN #2 — April 2017
Access and Supply to Markets
Terms of Trade (ToT)
Access is one of the main challenges for the traders to supply food commodities to the
markets of Kot, Muhmand Dara, Achin, Deh Bala and Dur Baba districts. These traders
pay higher transportation cost to supply food commodities from Jalalabad main market
compared to the other districts, mostly due to insecurity. This results in increases in food
prices and limits the transporters to supply the commodities to the insecure areas. In
addition, the residents in these districts also face security issues when traveling from the
villages to the main markets of the districts.
The market in Jalalabad City serves as the major source market for the main markets in the
assessed districts. The Jalalabad market itself is primarily supplied by Peshawar in
Pakistan. There are also some direct supplies of food items from Peshawar (Torkham
border) to Surkh Rod, Bati Kot and Behsud districts. As a result of the border closure, the
supply of food commodities to the markets of Bati Kot, Chaparhar, Kot, Deh Bala and
Sherzad was slightly reduced while for the other districts, the supply remained stable. The
supply chain of food commodities is mainly affected by insecurity and conflict, and it seems
to be not affected by seasonality.
The highest number of returnees were reported in Behsud, Jalalabad, Surkh Rod, Bati
Kot, Khowgiani, Kuz Kunar and Shinwar districts which also contributes to increase in
demand, causing the traders to increase the supply based on demand.
The terms of trade (ToT) between wheat flour and casual labour is a proxy indicator for
household purchasing power, which shows the quantity of wheat flour that can be purchased with the wage earned from one day of casual unskilled labour.
The terms of trade was reported the highest in Chaparhar, Khowgiani and Kot
districts (13 kgs of wheat flour/day), followed by Achin and Shinwar districts
(12 kgs of wheat flour/day), Behsud, Goshta, Kama, Mohmand Dara and
Surkh Rod (11 kgs of wheat flour/day), and Bati Kot, Dara-e-Nor, Dur Baba,
Lal Pur and Rodat (10 kgs of wheat flour/day). The lowest ToT was reported
in Deh Bala, Jalalabad, Kuz Kunar and Sherzad districts, which is mainly due
to the low rate of casual labour wage and higher price of wheat flour. The
availability of the casual labour work is very limited (1-2 day/week) in most
of the assessed districts, and households are rarely able to earn enough to
meet their food needs.
Market Capacity
The markets of Behsud, Surkh Rod, Jalalabad, Kama, Bati Kot and Khowgiani appear to
be the largest in Nangarhar province. While Achin, Deh Bala, Dur Baba, Sherzad, Kuz
Kunar and Rodat districts have small scale markets, all the assessed markets have the
ability to respond to the current demand. The traders interviewed in the large markets
indicated that these markets have the capacity to respond to the demand if increase in
the future.
The highest stocks of staple foods (wheat flour, rice, cooking oil) is reported in Jalalabad
City main market, followed by Behsud, Surkh Rod, Bati Kot and Khowgiani district
markets. The sales of the staples in these districts are also reported to be the highest.
For further information:
Source: Mudasir-WFP / Retailer shop in Kabul main city
[email protected] or [email protected]
mVAM website: http://vam.wfp.org/mvam
VAM website: vam.wfp.org
3
REPORT RELEASED 24 April 2017
3