Sugar prices reduced on sufficient stocks

CAIRO – 31 August 2017: The Ministry of Supply’s decision to reduce selling prices of sugar to consumers came as sugar stocks are sufficient to meet domestic needs until January, Minister of Supply Ali Moselhy said Thursday.

The price of subsidized sugar will be reduced from LE 10 ($0.57) to LE 9.5 per kilo as of September, Moselhy said in a statement.

Consequently, prices of sugar distributed from farmers to traders declined from LE 9,000 to LE 8,500 per ton, Moselhy added.

New prices for subsidized commodities were introduced in June, where the sugar was set at LE 10 per kilo and cooking oil at LE 14 per bottle.

In August, Moselhy said that Egypt imported 350,000 tons of sugar, out of 850,000 contracted to supply the market until October.

Egypt produces around 2.4 million tons of sugar annually, while annual consumption averages 3.1 million tons. The gap is filled by private and public imports.

In late June, President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi announced the government will increase the subsidies on ration cards from LE 21 to LE 50 ($1.1 - $2.7) per individual, as part of efforts aimed to boost the social safety net amid rising prices.

The decision would raise allocations of food subsidies in the 2017/2018 fiscal year’s budget to LE 85 billion from LE 47 billion in fiscal year 2016/2017.