Despite the government's announcement of new customs releases... What is the reason for the high cost of meat and poultry in Egypt?

Cairo

- "Mannat Allah Hussein" has become forced to deal with the price increase in Egypt after the high prices of all the alternatives that she relied on when a particular item was expensive. She never imagined that she would pay 170 pounds (a dollar equals 30 pounds) in exchange for a kilo of "chicken breasts". (Pane), but today she is forced to do so after the price of a can of "tuna" reached 40 pounds.

This woman is not alone in complaining about the continuous increase in the prices of poultry and meat, which has become the subject of discussion on communication sites, the media and officials during the past few days.

For the first time, poultry prices exceeded 70 pounds, while meat reached 250 pounds per kilo, despite the government's continuous measures to rein in prices.

Expensive alternatives

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Hussein says that prices have changed once a week, and that she "has to deal with them because there are meals that are essential for every working mother, primarily poultry and its derivatives, because it does not require time."

And no one knows the reason for the high cost;

Because all sellers place full responsibility on the increase in the price of the dollar, says the spokeswoman, adding, "The cost of meat and poultry, especially the latter, has become better for families because it is very close to the cost of other meals of less value, such as tuna, where a can is sold at prices ranging between 25 and 40 pounds, or eggs." Which reached 90 pounds per carton, or luncheon, which starts from 80 pounds for unknown types and reaches 170 pounds.

And she continued, "I will not pay 120 pounds for 3 cans of tuna, while I will buy 3 quarters of a kilo of pane at the same price, or 2 kilos of wings for 80 pounds. The issue is not a demand for poultry or meat as much as it is an attempt to save."

She added, "The prices of tilapia (the cheapest type) ranged between 10 and 25 pounds one year ago, depending on the size. Today, it ranges between 45 and 60 pounds."

The spokeswoman concluded that the increase in other commodities that were considered cheap in the past is what pushed the prices of meat and poultry up, adding, "No one will stop buying as long as the prices of processed foods are increasing non-stop, although they are not a staple food."

And she concluded by saying, "When a kilo of reliable luncheon meat approaches 200 pounds, the demand for meat and poultry must increase, no matter how expensive it is."

A citizen complains about the high prices of poultry, demanding that the conditions of the needy be taken into account, after the price per kilo reached 70 pounds pic.twitter.com/51tglqWlRW

- Al-Jazeera Egypt (@ AJA_Egypt) January 28, 2023

Feed is the reason

On the other hand, Abdel Tawab Hassan, a poultry farm owner, says that fodder is the basis of the problem and nothing else, noting that the price of a ton of fattening feed amounted to 21,400 pounds, after its price did not exceed 13,000 last September.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Hassan added that many farm owners decided to stop their activity temporarily until this crisis was resolved, adding, "The price of the chick increased from 3 pounds last September to 17 pounds, and today (Saturday) a kilo of slaughter is sold for 71 pounds, meaning that it will reach to 80 pounds per consumer.

Hassan concluded that "there is no solution to the crisis except by releasing more imported feed," but he also indicated that this "will not affect prices for the next 80 days, that is, until the end of the current fattening cycle."

The government held a meeting to discuss accelerating customs releases to limit price hikes (communication sites)

Government moves

On January 24, the government held a meeting to discuss accelerating customs releases to limit price increases, and Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said that work is currently underway to speed up the release of goods from ports.

In a statement, the spokesman for the Prime Ministry, Ambassador Nader Saad, said that the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture, "Mr. Kassir," said that supplies for poultry feed worth $135 million were released within one week (292,000 tons of corn and soybeans).

He added that these successive releases "will have a positive impact on the decline in the prices of eggs and poultry and the stability of the markets."

Last November, the Egyptian government released 143,000 tons of yellow corn and soybeans, out of two million tons that were withheld due to the scarcity of the dollar, in an attempt to curb the increase in their prices, after farm owners were forced to kill chicks due to a lack of feed.

However, a member of the Egyptian Parliament, Muhammad Abdullah Zain al-Din, presented an urgent statement to Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, on January 21, in which he said that poultry prices continue to rise, despite the release of feed.

"Prices should have fallen, but instead they rose in an unprecedented way," he added.

Today, Saturday, January 28, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Mal quoted Abdel Aziz Al-Sayed, head of the Poultry Wealth Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, that the price of a ton of poultry feed today ranges between 19.5 thousand pounds and 22 thousand pounds, according to the quality and calculating the transportation cost.

Al-Sayed expected that the prices of feed would rise further during the coming period due to the cohesion of raw materials.

Meat and poultry prices have jumped significantly during the recent period (Al-Jazeera)

The meat crisis is caused by the merchants

Hassan Mohamed, a butcher and livestock breeder from Sohag Governorate, southern Egypt, says that what happens in poultry is the same as what happens with meat, noting that the increase in poultry prices prompted those with greater purchasing power to replace them with meat, with the difference decreasing.

Meat prices have jumped over the past few days from 160 and 190 pounds to 220 and 250 pounds, according to the region.

In a statement to "Al-Jazeera Net", Muhammad said that the prices of fodder are not the main reason for the increase in meat prices, but rather an attempt to exploit butchers - especially wholesale butchers - for the circumstance, especially since the prices of imported meat rose from about 100 pounds to 150 pounds per kilo.

Muhammad explained that livestock feed does not depend on imports to a large extent, as is the case with poultry feed.

He pointed out that the increase in feed prices did not exceed 800 pounds per ton throughout the last period, as a ton of super fattening feed, the most traded, reached 13 thousand and 700 pounds, from 12 thousand and 900 pounds last December, which is an increase that does not match the increase Prices, he said, noting that the presence of imported meat is still holding back wholesalers.