Dubai: Rising food prices in India will affect the UAE, which relies heavily on imported commodities from the subcontinent, industry experts have said.
Food inflation in India is close to 18 per cent, sending prices of essential commodities like sugar, pulses, rice and vegetables sharply higher.
"A price increase will affect the UAE market as there are a lot of Indian products, mainly commodities, which are imported into the region," V. Nandakumar, LuLu spokesman, told Gulf News.
"In preparation for a possible continuation of this trend, we've been rigorously exploring other markets in order to offer competitive prices to our customers," he said.
"We're looking a lot more into the Far East, for example Thailand and the Philippines, as well as neighbouring GCC countries."
Harish Rupani, managing director of Equinox Trading, said that while rising prices in India will affect UAE imports, he doesn't believe rice prices will continue to rise.
"I don't expect them to go up in the next three months. India will be coming into monsoon season [in the] first week [of] June and if there is good rain, then prices should go down substantially."
India's inflation, which hit its highest level in more than a year last week, has been attributed to the sub-continent's weakest monsoon in nearly four decades, reducing harvests.
India's parliament was adjourned on Tuesday after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the government over rising food prices.
