A private investor intends to inject EGP 2bn into the construction of a hypermarket and 10 subsequent branches to be located across various parts of Egypt, said Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade Khaled Hanafy in a conference on Tuesday. The minister declined to disclose the name of the company. The Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade offered a tender for plots of land in the strategic areas of Gharbeya and Ismailia in which the hypermarket will be located, Hanafy said. He added that the goal of the project is to activate and promote domestic trade. According to Hanafy the supply ministry strives to develop its affiliated food companies, particularly the Edfina and Kaha companies owned by Food Industries Holding Company. Hanafy told the Daily News Egypt that the venture is not just about injecting capital into these companies, but rather restructuring and imposing new systems of administration on the organisations. He refused to disclose more details about the procedures for the restructuring of these companies in the future. Safwan Thabet, chairman of the Board of Directors of Juhayna Food industries, said that the size of Egypt's food industry has grown considerably due to population growth of approximately 2 million people annually. According to Thabet, Egypt's food industry market is worth approximately EGP 350bn and has grown 10% since last year. Thabet added that the current economic conditions have led to a shift in investments in his company, and he expects new investments to be injected into new locations, particularly Upper Egypt, once the security situation stabilises.
