Food prices rise due to fodder, sugar jumps after export approval
Prices of a range of foodstuffs, led by milk, cheese, and sugar, have increased recently, driven by rising production costs for dairy products, along with factors related to the sugar market, two sources at the Federation of Industries and the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce told Al Manassa.
Yesterday, Mohamed El-Damaty, deputy head of the Food Industries Chamber, said in televised remarks that the ongoing war in the Middle East and the subsequent rise in raw material prices will force new increases in food commodity prices, indicating that companies will reevaluate prices over the next 15 days.
Yet prices across several essential staples began rising almost immediately, well ahead of the industry official’s two-week timeline.
Unpackaged milk prices climbed to between 30 and 35 Egyptian pounds (about $0.58 to $0.67) per kilogram from 25 to 30 pounds earlier this month, while packaged milk hit 50 to 55 pounds ($0.96 to $1.06) per liter carton, up from 45 to 48 pounds, according to Abdel Moneim Qatilo, head of the Dairy Division at the Damietta Chamber of Commerce.
A roughly 15% surge in fodder prices during July and August drove up dairy production costs, forcing farms to pass the increase directly down to consumers, Qatilo added to Al Manassa.
He explained that the rise in milk prices in turn reflected on cheese prices, which increased by varying percentages during the same period. The price of a multipack of 250-gram cartons of Rhodes cheese rose from 605 to 658 pounds ($11.60 to $12.60), an increase of about 8.8%.
Obour Land also notified merchants of price increases across its Tetra Pak cheese lines starting this week, while Almarai raised multipack prices by up to 50 pounds (about $0.96) over the past two days, with several other companies implementing similar hikes, according to Qatilo.
Sugar rises after export
Wholesale sugar prices have jumped by about 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($96) per ton within a single month—rising from 21,000 pounds (about $400) to 26,000 pounds (about $500)—following the government’s decision to permit exports, according to Hassan El-Fandy, former head of the Sugar Division at the Federation of Industries.
El-Fandy told Al Manassa that consumer prices for a kilo of sugar gradually climbed from 22–28 pounds (roughly $0.42 to $0.54) last month to 27–35 pounds (about $0.52 to $0.67) currently, depending on quality and the producing company.
At the end of last month, the government allowed exports of various sugar types through the end of the year, limited to surplus quantities beyond local market needs. Mostafa Abdel Gawad, head of the Sugar Crops Council at the Ministry of Agriculture, estimated the exportable surplus at between 500,000 and 1 million tons.
However, the price surge came despite local stocks surpassing 3 million tons for the first time. Although prices at some companies briefly declined last month, they resumed their upward trajectory following the export decree, even as the government maintains that exports remain strictly restricted to excess inventory.