An anticipated wave of price increases has swept Egypt’s local markets, hitting basic goods and building materials after the government’s decision last week to raise fuel prices.
The government said the fuel-price increase, announced March 10, was driven by volatile global oil prices and regional tensions, but six officials from the federations of chambers of commerce and industries told Al Manassa the immediate effect at home was a fresh jump in commodity prices after all fuel products were raised by 3 Egyptian pounds.
Meat and poultry
Prices for both domestic and imported meat jumped unevenly by an average of 10% over the past two days, according to Haitham Abdel Baset, head of the Butchers Division, who said higher transport costs and the Egyptian pound’s exchange rate against the dollar had a direct effect on the sector.
Abdel Baset accused some importers of using the crisis as a pretext to raise prices on old inventories, especially imported meat, describing it as “greed,” and called for tighter government oversight to hold accountable anyone selling at inflated prices even though the goods had entered the country before the rise in the dollar and transport costs.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt produces about 60% of its red-meat needs, which helps explain why meat prices remain vulnerable to exchange-rate swings. Domestically produced quantities reached 600,000 tons last year, compared with 555,000 tons in 2024.
On poultry, Samah El-Sayed, head of the Poultry Division at the Giza Chamber of Commerce, said the farm-gate price of white chicken is currently stable at about 100 pounds ($1.92) per kilogram, reaching consumers at 125 to 130 pounds ($2.40 to $2.50), and predicted an increase of no less than 3 pounds (6 cents) per kilogram after the fuel-price hike.
El-Sayed told Al Manassa that feed prices have risen by about 2,000 pounds ($38) a ton since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran, to 23,000-24,000 pounds ($442-$462) from 21,000-22,000 pounds ($404-$423), a rise she said would feed through to the market.
Poultry prices also rose sharply last month, reaching as much as 140 pounds ($2.70) per kilogram for white chicken on stronger Ramadan demand and government exports before the government halted exports within days and prices eased.
Egypt’s output exceeds 1.5 billion chickens a year, according to Ahmed Ibrahim, media adviser at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, in press remarks last April.
Unsubsidized bread
The unsubsidized bakery sector has been hit hardest and fastest. In some areas, the price of a loaf has risen from 2 pounds to 3 pounds, a 50% jump, especially in upscale residential areas such as parts of the New Administrative Capital and newer developments, according to Khaled Fikry, head of Cairo’s Bakery Division.
Fikry told Al Manassa the increases were driven by higher operating costs, especially diesel, which bakeries rely on for production and transport. Some of these bakeries use about 20 liters a day, sharply raising operating costs after the fuel-price move.
Fikry said the Ministry of Supply was working on new “guideline prices” to curb excessive pricing, with officials expecting unsubsidized bread and fino-roll prices to rise by 25% to 30%, a range echoed by Khaled Sabry, spokesperson for the General Bakeries Division at the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, who said inflationary pressure would push prices up by the same margin in the coming period.
In a ministerial directive issued on Thursday, Supply Minister Sherif Farouk capped the price of unsubsidized loaves sold outside the state bread program at 2 pounds ($0.04) for an 80-gram loaf. The same ceiling was set for a 50-gram fino-roll commonly used for sandwiches.
Fikry also pointed to “large increases” in unsubsidized flour prices, with some mills raising prices by 2,000 to 2,500 pounds ($38-$48) a ton. Some varieties rose to about 17,500 pounds ($337) a ton from 15,500 pounds ($298).
Wheat has also come under pressure. Abdel Ghaffar El-Salamouni, deputy head of the Grain Chamber at the Federation of Industries, said the price of imported wheat rose to 13,200 pounds ($254) a ton from 12,000 pounds ($231) because of geopolitical tensions, higher shipping costs, and maritime transport risks.
El-Salamouni told Al Manassa that Egypt has sufficient wheat reserves as it prepares to begin receiving the local harvest in April, with the government targeting 5 million to 6 million tons this procurement season at a price about 2,500 pounds ($48) a ton above the global market.
Last month, Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said the government raised the procurement price of local wheat from 2,200 to 2,350 pounds per ardeb (from $280 to $300 per ton), increasing the cost of buying the crop from farmers by about 4 billion pounds ($76.9 million).
Vegetables and fruit
Hatem Naguib, a member of the Vegetables and Fruit Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce told Al Manassa that crop prices have so far risen only slightly, with transport costs up by about 1,000 pounds ($19) per ton, which adds only about 1 pound (2 cents), to the price of a kilogram of produce.
But Hussein Abdel Rahman, head of one of the unofficial farmers’ unions, said the impact of the fuel-price increase on crops will show up in the next planting cycle as production and transport costs rise.
Abdel Rahman told Al Manassa that price increases in some vegetables, such as tomatoes now selling for 25 to 30 pounds, are due to supply and demand rather than higher fuel prices.
Building materials
“The market is now seeing variation in steel prices because of individual pricing decisions by traders, with no official increases from factories so far,” said Ahmed El-Zeiny, head of the Building Materials Division at the Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
El-Zeiny told Al Manassa that the consumer price of Ezz Steel currently stands at about 38,500 pounds ($740) a ton, while the price for the commercial sector is about 38,000 pounds ($730), with some traders pricing it between 39,000 and 40,000 pounds a ton.
He said the market is seeing chaotic pricing because traders expect prices to rise as the dollar gains against the pound, prompting some to raise prices on existing inventories in anticipation of higher replacement costs.
He added that the market is in a wait-and-see mode, with many companies and traders watching global developments until after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday before making new pricing decisions.
On cement prices, El-Zeiny said they “will rise by 50 to 100 pounds ($1 to $2) per ton with the fuel-price increase and higher transport costs,” adding that cement currently sells to consumers at 3,650 to 4,000 pounds ($70 to $77) a ton before the increase, depending on the producer.
