Algiers resumes powdered milk imports

Faced with the scarcity of powdered milk, which has exacerbated tensions in recent months, the Algerian government finally lifted its import freeze.

At the end of August, exemptions were granted to the private sector, allowing the severely weakened Soummam dairy to order 40,000 tons of raw material. This decision was taken urgently, as food shortages are becoming a symptom of the country’s structural crises.

Since the beginning of the year, the availability of subsidized milk has deteriorated in several regions, fueling the black market and causing queues outside points of sale. The prolonged suspension of import licenses, decided in the name of regulating foreign trade, has stifled private manufacturers. The most vulnerable found themselves on
the verge of ceasing their activities, increasing the country’s dependence on the few remaining public operators.

This government’s backpedaling illustrates the authorities’ difficulty in managing social balance in a climate already marked by galloping inflation, rising unemployment, and declining purchasing power. In major cities such as Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, consumer frustration has grown, to the point of becoming a sensitive issue for
the government.

But the milk crisis is only the tip of the iceberg of a deeper malaise. For several years, Algeria has experienced repeated supply disruptions of basic products such as oil, semolina, and medicines.

These recurring episodes reveal the lack of structural reforms, whether in agriculture, the subsidy system, or the national industrial model. While Soummam’s order for 40,000 tons temporarily loosens the stranglehold, economists point out that the country remains trapped in a chronic external dependence. Amid budgetary uncertainties linked to volatile hydrocarbon prices – the state’s main source of revenue – the social balance remains precarious.

Many observers believe that the recurrence of these shortages could, in the long term, amplify popular distrust and provoke new political upheavals.

MK/ac/Sf/fss/as/APA