The recent burning of the Nestlé factory in Benha has resulted in a shortage of bottled water on the Egyptian market, with further shortages expected until production can return to normal. According to a company statement, the fire broke out in the packaging warehouse of the factory in Benha and rapidly spread to adjacent warehouses. The fire resulted in severe damage to the factory premises. All packaging materials and the five-gallon production facility were destroyed, though retail bottle production lines were only partially damaged. While the market share of Nestlé is not exactly known, some market experts put it at around 20 per cent. The use of bottled water has been on the rise in Egypt due to the high percentage of impurities in tap water. Demand is highest for 1.5 litre bottles and the five-gallon containers used in water dispensers. Some customers have received letters of apology explaining the interruption in supply of brands produced by Nestlé, and this has caused them to switch to other brands. Hatem Sayed, a doctor, said that he was concerned that some traders might try to take advantage of the crisis at Nestlé in order to raise the prices of other brands of bottled water. Such fears appeared to be vindicated immediately after the fire, when people were seen filling carts with bottled water at supermarkets “in case another shortage of bottled water occurs like that we suffered from last summer,” said Nadia Ali, a schoolteacher. Last summer, the shutting down of several bottled water companies led to severe shortages that resulted in the prices of bottled water doubling. Salma Mohamed, a housewife, said that she was unlikely to be affected whether there was a shortage or not as she had already cut down her family's consumption of bottled water after the detection of contaminated water in the products of some companies last year. The timing of the current shortage means that it is likely to be milder than last summer's. “We do not expect another crisis in the market for bottled water, as the demand is already low compared to the summer,” Ahmed Yehia, head of the foodstuffs division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Yehia said he hoped that Nestlé would resume production before Ramadan, which usually sees an increase in demand for bottled water.
