No increase in sugar prices at gov’t outlets: Supply Min.

CAIRO – 31 January 2018: The Supply Ministry denied Wednesday any increase in the price of sugar at government outlets after Egypt’s decision to raise the price of sugarcane purchased from local farmers.

The ministry said that there was no increase in the price of sugar at any government outlet across Egypt, saying that the price is stable at LE 9.5 per kilogram.

It added that the government is consistently following up on essential commodities to guarantee their provision and secure domestic needs. It also said that there were campaigns on all outlets to ensure that there was no tampering with prices of goods.

On January 21, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi issued a decree to hike the price of sugarcane purchased from local farmers from LE 620 per ton to LE 720 per ton.

The decision came following a request by farmers to raise the price since the cost of growing sugarcane has surged due to the high prices of fertilizers and other production inputs.

Egypt’s sugar factories have been supplied with around one million tons of sugarcane since the beginning of the harvest in the first week of January, according to the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade.

It is expected that the sugar companies will receive 10 million tons of sugarcane, enough to produce 1.1 million tons of sugar by the end of the season.

The total area planted with sugarcane in Egypt is 325,000 feddans, the majority of which is in Upper Egypt.

Egypt produces about 1.3 million tons of sugar from sugar beet each year and consumes about three million tons a year. It meets its production gap with a mix of private and public sector imports.

Egypt said in December it had sufficient sugar reserves to meet local demand for five months.