Key Highlights:

• GOSM (General Organization for Seed Multiplication) announced the new official price for wheat seeds at 2,750 SYP per kg, which reflects 74% increase compared to the official price for last season. All winter crops and vegetable seeds witnessed an increase due to a rise in demand by farmers, following the onset of the winter cropping season.

• Price increases for both agriculture inputs and food commodities continue to be observed in Syria. This continues to exert significant economic pressure and food insecurity on Syrian families. The recurrent price increases and prevailing high cost of agriculture inputs will continue to limit access to quality agriculture inputs in the local markets, especially for crisis-affected and resource constrained vulnerable smallholder farmers.

• The value of the Syrian pound continues to depreciate in the informal exchange market, ranging between 4,470 to 5,175 SYP/USD during the period September to October 2022 (source: https://sp-today.com/en/currency/us_dollar). The continued weakening of the local Syria currency versus the USD is also contributing to the rise in most agriculture inputs, particularly those imported.