Poultry prices haven’t settled down throughout June, and the officials have pointed fingers at greedy merchants, whereas merchants pointed fingers at fuel rising prices, and all in all, the only one who was truly affected was the Egyptians, as poultry would be present on their tables for a day, and absent for many others.
Last July, during the first week, poultry price reached 98 EGP, then lowered to 83 EGP, then lowered some more during the third week reaching 75 EGP, however by the end of the month it has increased again, then it has settled on 80 EGP throughout this week in August.
Yasmine Mohamed’s tradition of buying poultry hasn’t changed during last month only, the prices’ wavering made her buy chicken only when she needs it, “for example, I used to cook chicken twice a week, now it has come down to once only”; Yasmine now doesn’t care whether poultry price is high or low, as it is constantly changing throughout the year.
She remembers that before the current economic crisis, she used to buy chicken monthly, “I used to buy 1,000 EGP worth of beef and chicken and cook them throughout the month,” whereas Yasmine assures that poultry market is currently under the thumb of greedy merchants, “poultry shop owners would sell at lower prices, but then lie about the actual weight of the chicken, thus making more money.”
Hala -pseudonym- just like Yasmine, she gave up on following poultry prices, “I’m fed up, every day is a new price, and always unexpected”, adding that, recently, when the prices got a bit lower, she borrowed money from her neighbour, bought some, and stored them in the freezer.
Shaimaa Ali and Mai Mahmoud do the same, they both gave in to this unstable pricing process, “what can I do, even if chicken was expensive, it is still cheaper than beef, we can’t just stop eating meat altogether!” says Shaimaa, as for Mai, she decided to buy chicken this week, after boycotting it the previous weeks.
Things were different for Ahlam Al-Sayed, she no longer buys chicken, ever, and decided to eat chicken wings instead; she explains her abstinence from eating poultry by saying, “a single chicken can cost 150 EGP, my husband’s daily wage is 200 EGP, so can no longer buy chicken.”
Ahmed Tawfiq, poultry shop owner, attributed the increase in poultry prices recently to the increase in fuel prices, and the demand on poultry changes with the change in the prices, “mostly, sales are higher at the beginning of the month, and get lower by the end of the month.”
Saeed Sayed, poultry shop owner, agrees with Ahmed, however, he doesn’t know why prices waver this quickly, adding, “I believe it is due to last week’s animal feed shortage and increase in fuel prices.”
Various Prices from a Month to the Other
Abu Al-Fotouh Abdulmoez, Vice President of the Poultry Division, explained to Sout Al-Salam that the main driver for the rising and falling of prices are the mechanisms of supply and demand, clarifying that the more the supply, the less the cost. Abdulmoez attributes the reason of rising poultry prices to the merchants, explaining how it goes, saying, “if the price at the farm is 70 EGP, and the seller receives the commodity at 90 EGP, this means the merchant is achieving too much revenues, as the difference between the farm and market shouldn’t exceed 5 EGP”, but sometimes the gap in price reaches 14 EGP.
Abdulmoez believes that poultry prices have recently stabilised due to the availability of foreign currency and animal feed, which accounts for about 70% of the poultry production process, and he denied that expensive fuel has any effect on the poultry’s prices.
