July 2024: Palaw costs decline by 11%.
Prices of carrot saw a significant increase.
In July 2024, the cost of preparing palaw in Ashgabat fell to an average of 61.1 Turkmen manat, marking an 11.1% decrease from 68.8 manat in July 2023. However, this was a slight 0.7% increase from June 2024’s price of 60.7 manat. Globally, food prices dropped by an average of 3.1% in July 2024 compared to the previous year, according to the FAO’s Food Price Index.
In July 2024, Ashgabat experienced a general decline in prices for most products compared to the previous year, with the exception of carrots, which saw a 46.3% year-on-year increase. Onion prices experienced the most significant drop, falling by 57.5%. Other notable price decreases included rice (-27.2%), sunflower oil (-13.0%), beef (-5.6%), and wheat flour (-4.1%), as shown in Figure 1.
FAO Price Index Changes for Various Product Categories
- The FAO Cereal Price Index, encompassing wheat and other grains, decreased by 12.0% year-over-year in July 2024, influenced by strong exporter competition and reduced global demand for wheat.
- The FAO All Rice Price Index fell by 2.4% in July.
- Meanwhile, the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index rose by 4.0% YoY in July 2024.
- The FAO Meat Price Index also saw a slight increase of 0.8% during the same period.
Correlation between palaw prices and the black market rate
In recent years (2020-2022), Palaw Index price changes closely followed the USD/manat black market exchange rate. However, this correlation seemed to weaken due to a stable exchange rate around 19 manat/USD since 2022. The biggest driver of changes in palaw prices in 2023 were external factors such as increased supply of sunflower oil and wheat flour in the global market.
Methodology
Prices of ingredients in the Palaw Index are collected for 1 kg of onion, carrot, beef, rice, and flour, and 1 liter of cooking oil. Based on the methodology, in order to cook palaw for a family of four, we use 0.3 liters of cooking oil, 0.5 kg of onion, 1 kg of carrots, 0.6 kg of beef, 1 kg of rice, and 0.5 kg of flour in our formula. Please click here to learn more about the methodology of the Palaw Index.
Progres team strives to make Palaw Index reports as inclusive as possible by tracking the price changes of palaw in all major cities of Turkmenistan. Therefore, we kindly ask you to help us in collecting the prices by filling this out the form.
