THE competition among companies that make crisps in Egypt is fierce. They all want a slice of the potato, in a manner of speaking. Some of these companies are even extending credit to the distribution outlets and supermarkets, on a ‘display the products, pay later' basis, to encourage them to sell them. The profit margin is normally 50 per cent: 30 per cent for the factories and 20 per cent for the shops. A joint venture company owns a lot of the crisp companies. Egyptians consume around 100,000 tonnes of crisps a year, costing nearly LE3 billion (around $550 million). This figure includes the LE400 million the crisp companies spend on advertising, which generally targets children and young people, per annum. “These advertising campaigns have been so successful that Egyptian children, poor and rich alike, now spend most of their pocket money on crisps,” says Magdi Nazuih, a senior official at the Institute of Nutrition. “The average child consumes five packets of crisps a day, while his parent turns a blind eye.” Nazuih told Al-Mussawar weekly magazine that this is very unhealthy. “It would be far better if a child just ate one packet of crisps every fortnight,” he stressed. “The chemical additives and flavourings in crisps are terribly unhealthy. Parents should stop their children eating so many of them. Yet the consumption keeps on increasing.” The pressure from the crisp companies has put a terrible financial strain on Egyptian families, while there are also fears that crisps might be carcinogenic. Amr Assal, the head of the Industrial Development Authority, says that, because the Ministry of Health hasn't issued any warnings about the dangers, any crisp company can spend what it likes on marketing. Thabet Safwan, former chairman of the Chamber of Nutritional Industries, says that the Egyptian crisp market keeps on growing, because the purchasing power of the rich keeps on rising. “Consequently, the competition between the companies is incredibly fierce,” he comments.
