Due to the droughts and reduced domestic production, cereal import requirements have increased in 2022/23 in Arab countries. However, various factors limit the room for manoeuvre of regional governments to procure cereals from abroad, such as high international grain and transport prices, the Ukraine crisis, more expensive alternative import sources, and reduced production or export bans implemented by some major exporting countries.

Countries in the region have implemented a wide range of measures to tackle food security challenges and increase resilience to global shocks, such as supporting domestic agriculture, increasing the area of the wheat crops to raise self-sufficiency (Egypt), reference price increases for purchasing local production (Algeria, Iraq and Tunisia), establishing a storage premium for wheat (Morocco), creating an irrigation water subsidy (Algeria) or providing feed at reduced prices to offset the rising costs of animal feed (Morocco). In addition, many countries in the region have increased subsidies to vulnerable people. In some cases, however, the reduction of seed and fertilizer subsidies has negatively affected wheat output (Iraq). Many countries are boosting food stocks; for example, increased food reserves in Jordan have limited recent food price inflation.

Most of the trade policy measures in the food and agriculture sector introduced by NENA countries since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis were trade restricting (23 measures). Only four measures had trade liberalizing effect. Most trade-related measures were export bans (13 measures), followed by production subsidies (6 measures). In addition, some measures restricted export licensing requirements (Tunisia) or obliged farmers to sell a certain share of their crop to the government (Egypt). In some instances, import tariffs have been liberalized (Morocco: oil seeds), or the import ban lifted (Saudi Arabia: poultry) to enhance food supply in the domestic market. In other instances, import tariffs have been raised (Saudi Arabia) to promote domestic production (livestock, fish, and vegetables), or an import ban has been introduced (Algeria: seeds).