The retail price of sugar reached LE5 per kilo at private supermarkets, angering consumers who had recently been assured by official statements that current sugar market prices would be maintained. However, a kilo is still being sold for LE3.5 at state-run cooperatives. "I need six kilos more than my ration card allows me every month," said housewife Rayesa Ali from Sabteya. "Now I have to ration my family's consumption of other foodstuff to afford to buy sugar." "I told my kids to put less sugar in their tea," said housewife Shadia Gamil from Shubra. "The government should increase the monthly ration card quantities if it cannot control market prices," said Fayez Fawzi from Mounib. "Consumption increases in the winter when we drink more hot drinks, especially since the government told us this protects us against the flu." "Prices went up because the public wholesale company supplies the private sector more than the cooperatives," said Ibrahim Abdel Fattah, a cashier at one cooperative. "Now they are manipulating the prices and selling at higher than a good portion of society can afford." Translated from the Arabic Edition.
