By Hagar Saeed Many social media campaigns calling for a boycott of fruits have recently been launched nationwide. The aim is to force fruit dealers to control the prices of fruits, which have reached a stratospheric level this year. Yassmin Sharaawy, a 36-year-old housewife, who is involved in the campaign, said that every year, she used to buy fruit three times a week. It would cost her LE400 per month, but the skyrocketing prices of fruit today has led her to minimise her purchases to what she will buy on just one day a week, and that costs her around LE700 monthly. Yasmeen, however, is currently boycotting fruit as part of a campaign in the hope of seeing fruits return to their previous prices. She told the The Egyptian Gazette she is replacing fruit with desserts she makes for her children at home. The average prices of fruits in retail markets range between LE 25 and LE30 per kilo for mangoes, LE15 per kilo for grapes , figs and guavas, and LE30 per kilo for apples. The Citizens against Price Hikes association has expressed its solidarity with the campaign. Mahmoud El-Askalani, head of the association, expects the campaign, if more citizens join it, to cause a recession for fruit traders and compel them to reduce prices. "This campaign is a warning to fruit dealers who sell their products at exceedingly high prices," he told this newspaper . He said that the boycott campaigns expected to succeed best are those related to vegetables and fruits since these are goods rot quickly. Al Askalani advises the government to set a definite profit margin for traders, instead of letting them sell their goods at prices low-income consumers cannot afford. Mohamed Abdel Aziz, a professor of economics at Cairo University, attributed the problem to what he describes as "the retailer-rip off". "It is the retailers who really benefit," he said. "Some of them want to make huge profits. Proper profit margins should not exceed 25 per cent. but some retail merchants may make double that, claiming high overheads." But at the same time, he added, there are also wholesale merchants who display produce at prices everyone can afford. But it is then sold by the retailer at triple the price, if not more. The government has been trying to exercise control over the markets by increasing government outlets that sell groceries, meat and poultry at competitive prices, but Abdel Aziz believes that there should be a regular monitoring on the part of the Ministry of Supply in order to control rising prices and punish merchants who exceed the prices. Amm Ibrahim, a retail fruit seller in the southern district of Maadi, told this newspaper that the boycott campaign has not influenced the volume of his daily sales. He denied claims that retailers demand excessive prices since they already buy from the wholesalers at a high price. "The high cost of transport caused by the rise in fuel prices, drives us (traders) to raise the prices of our products to make our daily gains as stable as possible," he said. A housewife who was buying fruits from Amm Ibrahim said that she could never think of boycotting fruits they were a vital source of nutrition for her children. Yehia Al-Sunni, chairman of the Vegetables and Fruit Department of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, agreed that prices were too high. He attributed the exorbitant price of fruits to weather factors causing some fruits to rot, leading , as a result, to a low supply of them in the market. So that the government can control price hikes, El Sunni suggests establishing a "Commodity Exchange" to observe the prices of produce as they reach the market starting from the farms or factories to the final consumer. "Such an entity should be responsible for determining a minimum and maximum price for the final product in order to halt the monopolistic practices of traders," he said. He wants the government to buy produce directly from the farms so as to sell fruits and vegetables at affordable prices for low-income consumers. He pointed out that the presence of brokers between the farmer and the retail trader contributes in the end to excessive prices for products.
