Egypt hikes 3 cigarette brands’ prices by up to 17.6%

CAIRO – 12 July 2017: Eastern Company raised the price of three cigarette brands by 4.2 – 17.6 percent (LE 0.50 – LE 2.25, $0.028 – $0.126) as of Wednesday, the company announced.

The prices were increased as follows: Cleopatra King Size from LE 10.50 to LE 11.50, Cleopatra Queen soft pack from LE 12 to LE 12.50 and Cleopatra Super from 12.75 to LE 15.

The three brands are the most popular among the low-income class in Egypt.

The company raised the prices to curb the increase in the production costs, Eastern Co’s Chairman Mohamed Othman Haroun told Reuters over the phone.

Haroun added that the paper packs’ prices were increased amid the decrease in the stock imported at LE 9 per U.S. dollar, while the production necessities were imported at LE 18 per U.S. dollar.

The chairman noted that the price hike comes in the frame line of the current law and there are 11 brands of which prices are still unchanged, adding that the raised prices are still lower than the sale prices in the market.

This move comes few days after the government announced new price hikes for fuel and electricity, in addition to the latest interest rate increase.

In December 2016, the price of Merit, Marlboro and LM cigarettes rose by 10 percent, equal to LE20 per cartridge and LE2 per pack, Al-Borsa News website reported.

Moreover, Egypt’s smoke cigarettes division at the Federation of Egyptian Industries officially increased the prices of cigarettes in September 2016, two days after applying the new value-added tax law.

According to CAPMAS 2015 survey linking smoking to income, expenditure and consumption, 41.2 percent of employers smoke, and the average annual expenditure of an Egyptian household on smoking is LE 1,722 ($95.14).