Egyptian government gives traders 10 days to adjust sugar prices – minister

Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhi stated on Sunday that retailers would have ten days to control prices, failing which the government might “resort to forced pricing measures.”

For the past week, sugar prices have been unstable, with vendors increasing the prices on their own accord to up to 39 Egyptian pounds.

To regulate the prices previously, the Egyptian government applied a three-month ban on all sugar exports in March, except for excess production, and then applied the ban again for another three months in September.

Since the start of 2023, Egypt has had a difficult time keeping pace with the rising costs of necessities. This contributed to surging inflation during the first nine months of the year, although the trend eased in October.

In October, headline inflation in Egypt dropped from 40.3 percent in September to 38.5 percent, as reported by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).

However, it still significantly higher compared to October 2022, when it hit 16.2 percent.

Egypt is currently working on increasing its agricultural production through a land reclamation programme aimed at restoring 3.5 million feddan.

In March, Egypt raised earning prices for the current season’s local sugar beets by 75 pounds per ton to encourage farmers to cultivate more.

Egypt cultivated 620,000 feddan of sugar beets this year, marking an increase of approximately 10,000 feddan from 2022.

Moselhi, also revealed at the third Nebu Gold Expo in Cairo, that Egypt has enough strategic sugar reserves to cover the country’s demand for up to five and a half months.

“The Supply Ministry will not flood the market with sugar in an attempt to preserve the strategic reserve,” he stated in a later statement.