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Algeria Vows to Use the Harshest Means Against Speculators as Potato Shortage Tests Price Caps

8 November 2026 · Algeria Now

Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb has promised that the state will use every means against speculation, as potatoes, the staple vegetable of Algerian kitchens, remain scarce more than a month after the government capped their price. On Saturday he also inaugurated two laboratories to test imported goods.

A platform to track every stage

Speaking on Thursday at an enlarged interministerial meeting held by videoconference with the walis, or provincial governors, Ghrieb launched a national platform for daily monitoring of mass-consumption goods. It gives the government, the walis and security services real-time data on prices, quantities produced and sold, destinations and cold-storage stocks. He told governors they would answer for the figures entered, and called for strict inspection of cold rooms so that no undeclared stock goes unnoticed.

Ghrieb said farmers and traders may profit, but openly and within the rules. He recalled that agriculture benefits from public support in water, electricity, fertilizer and other inputs, and said the least expected in return is that they do not raise costs for consumers. The platform, he stressed, is not an invoicing system.

Why the cap has not delivered

After an interministerial meeting on 1 October, the government fixed the retail price of potatoes at 80 to 90 dinars a kilogram and the producer price at 60 to 70. The decision followed a surge past 100 dinars in several markets and up to 140 in parts of Algiers, against a usual range of 50 to 70.

Since then potatoes have largely vanished from shops, and some traders reportedly sell them discreetly above the cap. The economist Brahim Guendouzi argues that the cap and tighter controls discouraged suppliers, on top of low output, weak cold-chain logistics and a long chain of intermediaries. On Wednesday a commerce directorate announced the release of stocks from cold rooms in the wilayas of Aïn Defla, Médéa, Boumerdès and Bouira. A similar cap on five products in April 2025 gave uneven results.

Controls at the border

At the Algiers port and airport on Saturday, Ghrieb opened two laboratories to analyse imports before they reach consumers. Built by the Ministry of National Defence in 60 and 40 days respectively, they follow an order given by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at a Council of Ministers meeting on 7 June. The prime minister said the model will extend to all border posts and described the laboratories as soldiers protecting the economy.

The test now is whether supply recovers. The new season's harvest should help, and the government has staked its credibility on prices before the 2027 finance bill is voted on 16 November.

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