During the past year, Egypt experienced a dollar shortage crisis, which made it difficult for the government to import fodder, which caused a significant increase in the prices of local chicken. Will frozen Brazilian chicken solve the crisis?

After the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture spoke a year ago from now proudly before the country's president that Egypt is self-sufficient in its poultry production and exports the surplus to the world, hundreds of farms or poultry farms have gone out of service and the price of local chicken has risen, as a kilo is about 90 Egyptian pounds.

On the other hand, imported Brazilian chicken sparked controversy among the pioneers of communication platforms, as its price after the process of freezing and packaging does not exceed 65 pounds, but the low price of imported chicken from the municipal one made some feel anxious, while media professionals close to the government were keen to defend Brazilian chicken.

And about some experiences with Brazilian chicken, an Egyptian activist wrote, "I bought chicken today from Sun Mall, it weighs 1,300 pounds, the chicken is 90 pounds, a Brazilian type and very sweet. I used it before that, boiled it and made it grilled in the oven as well..I made the chicken rot when I sold the chicken, and there is the same type." This is at the outlets of the armed forces.”

Activists split

The Egyptians were greatly divided on social media regarding Brazilian chicken - as mentioned in episode (23/2/2023) of the "Shabakat" program - where activist Hanan Al-Behairy was surprised by the government's ability to import chicken and its inability to import fodder and wrote, "We were able to save dollars to import Frozen chickens were available in the market in a jiffy, and we were unable to protect a national industry that employs tens of thousands of workers, other than industries complementing the poultry industry and an economy worth about 100 billion pounds.

As for the singer Ahmed Al-Sheikh, he pointed out that Brazilian chicken is widespread in the global markets, and he said, "In principle, Brazilian frozen chicken has been present in the markets of the richest countries in the world for 30 years, in different shapes, types, prices, and quality, and whoever lives outside knows this."

Activist Ali Salam also saw that Brazilian chicken is used in supermarkets and there is no harm in eating it, and he wrote, "Those who do not like frozen chicken, which is the chicken that we buy grilled ready-made or Kentucky Fried Chicken.

On the other hand, activist Yasser Shalabi Yasser expected that the matter would be related to an economic trick that increases the profits of the armed forces, and commented, "After they closed and vandalized the homes of the owners of poultry farms, the script for the frozen chickens of the armed forces came down, group."

In turn, activist Samir al-Araky linked the Brazilian chicken controversy with political calculations in the country and said, "Even the Brazilian frozen chicken has been politicized. Government loyalists consider it an opening from God to confront the greed of merchants, and opponents consider it corrupt and containing hormones, and tomorrow you hear about the arrest of a secret organization whose mission was to undermine the reputation Brazilian chicks, Lord."

It is noteworthy that sound commercial logic believes that if the government can import a commodity at a cheaper price than the cost of its production, why resort to its production?

In this regard, analysts point out that the government is not a profit-making company. The government wants to employ people and manage the wheel of the economy. Domestic production is not just consumption, but a complete industrial and production cycle in which the fodder trader, farm owner, labor, transport drivers and retailers benefit, and here the value is greater than Direct profit.