Cairo -

 With the acceleration of the economic crisis in Egypt and the world, it seems that the Egyptians are on a date with the transition of a new product from the list of daily purchases to the list of luxuries, which is the cup of coffee, in light of the decreasing coffee stock and the increase in its prices.

Although a large number of Egyptians have become accustomed during the past period to giving up products that they cannot afford, such as red meat and some types of fruits and others;

Giving up this product will disturb the mood of a large percentage of Egyptians who rely on a cup of coffee to improve their mood, whether at work or at home.

Egyptians interacted widely with the statements of the head of the coffee division in the Chamber of Commerce, Hassan Fawzy, in which he said that he feared that the Egyptian consumer would lose the cup of coffee he used to drink daily, in light of a clear shortage of coffee stocks at the present time.

Head of the Coffee Division in the Chamber of Commerce, Hassan Fawzy, says he is afraid that the Egyptians will lose their cup of coffee due to the lack of stocks resulting from the high prices and the damage of a quarter of the crop in Brazil due to the frost pic.twitter.com/hAWCe4tr4y

- Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) August 24, 2022

no alternative

Fawzy stressed - in televised statements - that Egypt imports all the coffee it consumes because the country's climate is not suitable for its production, as coffee needs a high temperature and high humidity, and there is no local alternative for it.

He explained that the frost that hit Brazil at the end of last year and the beginning of this year caused damage to about 25% of the coffee crop, which led to raising prices globally, in light of the lack of supply, in addition to the disruption of global supply chains, which caused the prices of most products to rise globally.

The head of the coffee division in the Chamber of Commerce explained that the real crisis in the shortage of coffee stocks in Egypt currently lies in the delay in the procedures of Egyptian ports, and the non-exit of goods from them, calling for coffee to be considered a basic commodity and not a luxury.

Attempts to solve the crisis

The government newspaper, Al-Ahram, had quoted the head of the coffee division about a week ago that he had addressed the Minister of Finance to quickly release more than 200 containers of coffee at sea customs, in order to avoid delay fines and storage costs borne by importers.

Fawzy called for reducing the burden on importers and treating coffee as a strategic commodity, in order to preserve Egypt's share in global markets and the trust between the Egyptian importer and the supplier abroad.

 The Coffee Chamber also called on the Ministry of Finance to transfer the goods to the public sector warehouses inside the customs department until they are released, so that they are not sold by public auction under the name of "neglected shipments."

The "Cairo 24" news website stated that some coffee-producing companies in Egypt decided to raise the prices of coffee packages, between 5 and 10 pounds (a dollar equals about 19 pounds) in the Egyptian markets.

Egyptians spend tens of millions of dollars annually on coffee, as the value of Egyptian imports of unroasted coffee reached 84 million and 508 thousand dollars, during the first eight months of 2021, according to official statistics issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (government).

Is it time to solve the problems of coffee cultivation in Egypt, which are represented in the cross-


breeding of strains that suit the climate of Egypt, Lower Egypt, a tribal face in central Sinai, and are of the luxurious African and Yemeni strains


- harvesting machines - machines for removing the outer shell - drying ovens - support and guidance pic.twitter. com/QKWA4MmKcT

— El hassan Khalaf (@ElhassanKhalaf1) August 25, 2022

Social media controversy

The shortage of coffee and its high prices have been a rich source of controversy on social media in Egypt, especially with a large percentage of Egyptians associated with a cup of coffee.

While some expressed their distress at the possibility of the disappearance of coffee and called for buying large quantities of it, others feared that this would be a crisis fabricated by traders in search of a new hike in mainly high prices.

Tweeters expressed their lack of interest in the crisis in light of the deteriorating quality of coffee currently in Egypt, and some even claimed that the coffee originally "mixed with other products such as peanuts and date seeds."

On the other hand, activists called on the government to take measures to confront the expected crisis, and some of them made suggestions to change the sources of coffee and rely on new countries for imports, such as Papua New Guinea, which recently appointed the first coffee minister in the world. Some also suggested starting coffee cultivation in Egypt through cross-breeding. New commensurate with the climate in Egypt.

On the occasion of the coffee crisis, coffee

☕️ in Egypt has good relations and the exchange of embassies with

Papua

New


Guinea

https://t.co/gUJ5N0XWk7




— Hisham Bakr (@HishamBaker3) August 25, 2022

It has become absurd that you ask why this project is not done in Egypt even though it is profitable and provides hard currency for Egypt.


Why is coffee not grown in Egypt?!

pic.twitter.com/uHqMHVBNrZ

— Mohamed ahmed ahmed (@Moh_abo_khaled) August 22, 2022

Is he the head of his coffee people? You will find him. He has enough stock for all of Egypt's stores, but he will pay the price of his goods 😅

— Hazem nabwy (@HazemNabwy) August 25, 2022

If you have soul dollars before September 15 at Abdel-Maboud or Shaheen, buy coffee if you are addicted to coffee because the Chamber of Commerce said that the coffee stock in Egypt is nearing expiration due to the import restriction

— Faraj Effendi Nassar (@faragnassar5) August 24, 2022