CAIRO: With the news of the spread of bird flu throughout the country the demand for chicken has plummeted. Meat prices have gone through the roof. In response, the government has announced its plans to import more frozen meat, to the dismay of local poultry traders. It has issued new modifications on importing laws to ease the process and consequently lower prices. Industry professionals, however, don't expect much from the changes, saying these alterations won't affect prices. Last week, Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid announced two major modifications in food importing regulations to ease the process while maintaining safety and hygiene requirements. The first concerned product labeling. The label, which includes the product's name, its country of origin and the name of the authority that supervises and ensures that the meat complies with Sharia standards, would be put inside the sealed packages instead of being printed on the boxes. Ministry officials say this would help reduce costs and ensure safety; printing the labels are expensive and the ink used is not always safe, they say. Hossam Sabry, managing director of African Trade, says some crooked importers might alter the label, which also includes expiry dates. Sabry, whose company works in importing meat, calls for government monitoring to control the usage of this modification. Also, importers are likely to keep prices high, regardless of the drop in costs. Importers, however, have promised to keep prices on the moderate side while providing the market with its needs, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Trade. Additional special refrigerators will be available to accommodate the increase in imported meats, continues the release. The second modification pertains to the supervisory committee that visits the exporting countries to ensure compliance with Egyptian importing standards. Instead of traveling, the committee would inspect food upon its arrival to Egypt to save costs. Sabry notes that this regulation won't have much effect on the prices. The majority of Egypt's meat imports come from Brazil, official sources confirm. According to Sabry, imports from Brazil, which he estimates make up from 90 to 95 percent of the 140,000 tons imported annually, have always been inspected in Egypt. The government has only sent its inspectors abroad when the imports were from Africa. Thus, the new regulation would only affect 5 to 10 percent of the imports. Sabry calls for a strategy regulating imports. He says that currently anyone who wants to import a product goes ahead and does it, adding that there is no clear strategy for the country's needs over the long term and thus the market suffers from fluctuations in price and local traders lower their prices to combat importers so they make no profit for a time. When the importers are out of business, local meat traders raise the prices again, Sabry explains. A solution to the increasing meat prices, or a step toward one, would be making deals with different exporting companies, Sabry suggests. He says the modifications only affect the extra costs but the meat prices remain the same; he likened it to removing tariffs while the original price stays put. As most of Egypt's meat imports come from Brazil, prices will always be tied to the Brazilian market. Sabry gave an example of how Brazil prioritizes exports to Russia when the latter is short of meat products, due to the lack of requirements and restrictions the Russian government imposes on imports, in comparison to more numerous demands made by the Egyptian government. Sabry suggests that significantly diversifying exporting countries might help in curbing prices.
