A SHORTAGE of potatoes has pushed prices during the last two weeks to an unprecedented LE15 per kilogramme, almost triple the average price. The causes of the problem are several, including a smaller harvest last season and traders hoarding potatoes to benefit from soaring prices. Hussein Abu Saddam, head of the Farmers Syndicate, cited two main reasons for the weak harvest: the increase in the price of fertilisers and seeds, making farmers reluctant to cultivate the crop, and the overuse of pesticides to stop insects from spreading due to the hot weather during the summer months. The area cultivated with potatoes during summer is 200,000 feddans compared to 400,000 in the winter season. Egypt produces between 1.8 million to two million tonnes of potatoes annually, almost 20 per cent of which is exported. Moreover, some potato growers said they planted smaller crops this year because they were underpaid last year. Several growers talking to the media last week said they sell the crop at wholesale prices for less than LE1. Representatives of the syndicate, however, say that traders are also to blame. They said the potato business is monopolised by five or six traders who are responsible for the current crisis after they agreed to stock the crop to push prices up. Last week, authorities cracked down on trader warehouses, seizing hundreds of tonnes of hoarded potatoes. Both the supply and interior ministries have also set up booths where potatoes retail for lower prices. Minister of Agriculture Ezzeddin Abu Steit has formed a committee to look into the causes and solutions of the problem. It recommended reactivating ministerial decree no 669/1991 stipulating that traders stop storing potatoes in warehouse fridges after 20 October every year. These combined efforts have paid off. A drop of 30-40 per cent in wholesale prices was reported in several markets in the last few days. Most Egyptian households have been trying to cope with the spiralling increase in inflation. The officially calculated inflation rate increased to 14.2 per cent in September compared to 13 per cent in August. Food prices account for 40 per cent of the basket of commodities and services according to which inflation is measured and increased by 11.6 per cent year-on-year in August, compared with 9.6 per cent in July. Apart from official figures, food prices have doubled and sometimes tripled since the floatation of the pound in November 2016 which saw the currency lose more than 50 per cent of its value.
