"Commerce": Protecting consumers from manipulation and exploitation, and ensuring the availability of goods at affordable prices

Tariq Araby

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry confirmed that it continued to fulfill its role in 2025 in ensuring the availability of essential goods and basic necessities for citizens at acceptable prices, in line with the state’s policy of addressing rising cost-of-living expenses through price support for commodities.

In its recently issued annual report, which Al-Anba reviewed, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry emphasized its focus on consumer affairs and protection. It highlighted its leading and significant role in overseeing local markets to shield consumers from manipulation and exploitation, in addition to policies related to commodity subsidies and the ration card. During the past year, the ministry issued several ministerial decisions regulating market operations.

The ministry added that the policy adopted to combat inflation in the local market is grounded in the reality of Kuwait’s economy, which is based on the principle of a free-market economy, the openness of the local market to global markets, and the dominance of supply and demand factors and fair competition among traders. Therefore, the ministry’s intervention in price-setting is limited in scope, focusing on setting prices for essential goods and basic necessities vital to consumer life, without intervening in the pricing of other luxury goods that fall outside the price-control umbrella. This leaves such pricing to supply and demand dynamics, fostering a competitive environment that influences price trends and achieves a balance between the interests of traders and consumers.

The annual report summarized the ministry’s role in addressing inflation and price fluctuations in essential goods and foodstuffs through the following practical steps:

* Implementing the government’s policy of subsidizing essential commodities listed on the ration card, which are sold at fixed prices pursuant to relevant ministerial decisions, such as construction materials including iron, cement, and lime bricks.

* Maintaining a strategic reserve of essential goods and basic materials (rice, vegetable oils, powdered milk, liquid milk, sugar, lentils, flour, tomato paste, and chicken) sufficient to meet population needs for six months, as a precaution against any emergencies.

* Prohibiting the export of state-subsidized materials to ensure their continuous and ample availability for citizens and to prevent their leakage abroad due to their lower prices.

* Cooperating with relevant competent authorities, such as the Kuwaiti Supply Company, the Cooperative Societies Union, and the Kuwait Flour Mills and Bakeries Company, by providing financial support to these entities in exchange for supplying these materials and covering the costs of regular and refrigerated warehouse rents, as well as transportation and storage fees, given current circumstances.

Regarding the general objectives the ministry expects to achieve through these measures, it stated that they are represented by two main goals:

Goal One: Achieving effective oversight of the local market to reach the desired balance between the interests of consumers and traders. The ministry defined the executive policy to achieve this goal as follows:

* Educating and guiding consumers in their daily market interactions and choices among various alternatives of goods and services to maximize their utility relative to the prices paid.

* Informing consumers about the laws and ministerial decisions issued by the ministry through various media channels, thereby fostering self-regulation that assists the ministry’s inspection apparatus.

* Continuing the ministry’s oversight through inspections of commercial activities and public markets to prevent fraud and price manipulation in order to protect consumers.

Goal Two: Maintaining the stability of citizens’ cost of living and ensuring their access to essential goods at reasonable prices. The ministry defined the executive policies for this goal as follows:

* Providing necessary support for essential foodstuffs to alleviate the burden of living costs and strive to reduce the prices of similar items in the local market.

* Providing necessary support for construction materials, such as iron, cement, and lime bricks.

* Coordinating with other entities involved in importation and distribution, such as the Kuwaiti Supply Company and the Cooperative Societies Union, to facilitate the delivery of these goods to citizens via the ration card for first-tier items or through cooperative central markets for other items.

* Striving to establish a strategic commodity reserve of basic materials to achieve the principle of long-term food security.

* Conducting rigorous and continuous inspections of distribution entities to ensure compliance with ministerial decisions specifying individual allocations and selling prices.

* Working to link and operate the automated ration card system in supply branches of cooperative societies across all regions of Kuwait, in line with the state’s policy of developing services in all fields, and upgrading the current system to align with the implementation of the smart card, which will replace the currently circulating ration card.

Annual Revenues

On another note, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry recorded an increase in its revenues during the 2024/2025 fiscal year, amounting to 338,900 dinars. Actual revenues for that year reached approximately 23.877 million dinars, compared to 23.529 million dinars in the 2023/2024 fiscal year.

According to data issued by the ministry’s Financial Affairs Department, total actual expenditures for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry during the 2024/2025 fiscal year amounted to approximately 450.696 million dinars, a decrease of 41.686 million dinars from the previous fiscal year 2023/2024, when expenditures stood at approximately 492.383 million dinars.

The data showed that the ministry issued 456 disbursement requests to the Warehousing and Custody Department during the past fiscal year, in addition to issuing 350 purchase requests. Meanwhile, the Procurement Department issued 341 purchase orders.

Regarding the Tenders and Contracts Department, data indicated that the department issued 629 invoices and 39 contracts during the 2024/2025 fiscal year.

Kuwait Consumed 118 Tons of “Peshawar” Rice and 92 Million Loaves of Bread

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed that the total value of subsidies disbursed for basic materials, milk and infant nutrition, and construction materials reached approximately 357.88 million dinars in 2025. This includes 170.5 million dinars for basic materials, 17.7 million dinars for milk and infant nutrition, and 169.5 million dinars for construction materials.

According to the data, Kuwaitis consumed approximately 118 tons of Peshawar rice, with a total value of 45 million dinars; 23.9 tons of sugar, with a total value of 2.7 million dinars; 51 million subsidized chickens, with a value of 44.8 million dinars; and 92 million loaves of bread, with a total value of 12 million dinars.

Statistical details showed that the total subsidy for basic materials, which comprises nine items including Peshawar rice, sugar, regular powdered milk, vegetable oil, tomato paste, chicken, lentils, flour, and bread, amounted to 170.5 million dinars, the same value as the subsidy provided in 2024. Meanwhile, the total subsidy for milk and infant nutrition, which covers 54 items, reached approximately 17.7 million dinars, a 7% increase from the 16.6 million dinars provided for the same items in 2024.

Regarding subsidies for construction materials, which comprise 14 items, the total subsidy amounted to 169.5 million dinars, a 19% decrease from the 208.4 million dinars provided for the same items in 2024. The list of subsidized construction materials includes black cement, lime bricks, supply cement, iron, insulating bricks, air conditioning, concrete, black (cement) tiles, sanitary fixtures, electrical wires, waterproofing, ceramic and porcelain, exterior cladding (paints), and aluminum.

46 Ministerial Decisions in One Year

As part of its efforts to activate regulatory and supervisory tools aimed at managing the market, protecting consumers, and organizing the economic environment, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued 46 ministerial decisions during the past fiscal year 2024/2025, all falling within this framework. These included decisions related to adding new commercial activities to the list of existing commercial activities.

Among the new decisions was the decision to define the beneficial owner, which generated significant interaction in the Kuwaiti market due to its major impact on commercial activity.

The list of new decisions also included the addition of new food items to the ration card (at reduced prices), raising the number of subsidized and discounted ration items from 108 to 116 in 2025.