Businesses, investors and partners working in Somalia rarely have one place to read the year as a whole. Figures arrive late, in pieces, and from sources that do not agree. The Somalia Market Brief 2026 brings the year together in one document, built to a fixed structure so that it can be compared year on year. It will be published in December 2026.
What this publication covers
The brief is organised in four sections. The first covers demand: what was bought in 2026, in which sectors, and by whom, reported against a consistent set of indicators. The second covers trade, including import composition, port and corridor throughput, freight and clearance conditions, and the disruptions that affected them during the year. The third covers investment, recording announced, committed and completed investment separately, because conflating them is how investment figures in this region become unreliable.
The fourth section looks ahead: the specific developments 2027 should be read against, stated as things to watch rather than as predictions. A method note closes the brief, setting out sources, collection dates and the confidence attached to each series.
Prices and market trends
At its core, the brief is a record of what things cost in Somalia and how that changed through the year. A fixed basket of around 40 items, from rice, flour, sugar and cooking oil to fuel, cement and steel, will be tracked monthly in five market cities: Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Garowe, Kismayo and Baidoa. Each item is reported in US dollars, with the change over the month, the quarter and the year, so readers can see where prices moved, where they held, and where markets diverged between cities.
Alongside prices, the brief follows the trends behind them: exchange rates and mobile money use, import volumes, freight and clearance costs, seasonal and climate shocks, and the policy changes that affected doing business in 2026.
Sectors we will track, and where the data comes from
- Food and essential commodities: market price panels in five cities, cross-checked with published FAO and WFP market monitoring.
- Fuel and energy: retail fuel prices from station panels, plus electricity tariffs from main providers.
- Construction materials: cement, steel and building inputs from wholesalers and hardware traders.
- Livestock: market prices and export trends, drawing on public port and trade reporting.
- Telecom and mobile money: tariffs, data prices and payment trends from operators and public releases.
- Logistics and ports: freight, clearance times and corridor conditions from clearing agents and transporters.
- Banking and finance: lending conditions and exchange rates from banks and Central Bank of Somalia releases.
- Housing and property: rents and land prices in main city districts from agents and landlords.
Where a sector has strong official data, the brief uses it. Where it does not, the brief relies on its market panel and says so clearly.
Method
The brief combines documentary sources with direct collection. Published material includes central bank and ministry releases, port and customs data where obtainable, and the reporting of multilateral institutions working on Somalia. Because published data in Somalia is often late or partial, the brief draws substantially on a panel of contacts across the market: importers and clearing agents, wholesalers, bank and mobile money operators, construction and logistics firms, and chamber of commerce representatives.
Panel contributions are collected against a fixed questionnaire so that responses are comparable, and are reported in aggregate. No individual contributor or company is identified without written consent. Where a series rests on panel reporting rather than official data, the brief labels it as such, and where collection is incomplete the brief shows the gap rather than filling it.
The brief goes through internal review before release, and any later correction will be published openly alongside it.
Who it is for
The brief is intended for companies trading in or into Somalia, banks and investors with exposure to the market, development finance institutions and donors tracking economic conditions, and ministry staff who need a clear read of the year without waiting for official statistics.
Status
The Somalia Market Brief 2026 will be published in December 2026. Nothing on this page reports market findings. Companies willing to contribute to the panel, and readers who want a copy when it is released, can write to publications@veynuus.com or subscribe to be notified.