CAIRO - The decrease in the value of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar is having a negative impact on the import of basic needs. Egypt's foreign reserves stand now at $13.5 billion, well below the $15 billion that the Central Bank of Egypt last December considered as a minimum and critical level that must be maintained. Foreign reserves were at $36 billion in 2010. The pound has lost up to 10.5 per cent of its value since it started a nosedive last December. “Poultry is at the top of the list of basic foodstuffs that have been hard hit, as 80 per cent of related production supplies in the industry come from overseas," said Abdel-Aziz el-Sayed, head of the Poultry Producers Division at the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FECC). “We import soya, maize, serums and vaccines. The shortage of diesel adds to the problem as it is used for providing warmth to chicks and young chickens," he added. Abdel-Aziz urged the Ministry of Agriculture to provide two million feddans for producing 14 million tonnes of maize annually, which is likely to achieve self-sufficiency. “Moreover, up to 75 per cent of the serums and vaccines used for chickens come from abroad, and the remaining 25 per cent is manufactured here," Abdel-Azizi told the leading Arabic daily Al-Ahram. He said that the Poultry Producers Union had drawn up a plan to produce all the necessary serums and vaccines at home through developing the poultry stock exchange and imposing a one per cent tax on all the imported production supplies that have local alternatives. The money will support a fund for promoting the poultry industry. The development process will then extend to random private poultry farms. “As for frozen food imports, namely meat, fish and chicken products, they fell by 25 per cent during the first three months of the year, compared to the same period a year before due to the surge in the dollar," said Alaa Radwan, a member in the Food Stuff Industires at the FECC. Radwan, who is also head of the Association of the Meat, Fish and Chickens Importers, explained that banks had suspended offering importers with letters of credit, demanding them to seek dollars from the parallel market, which caused frozen food prices to increase by 25 per cent to 39 per cent. In addition to this, fees were imposed on imported frozen fish, which is cheaper than local production. As for major imported grains, a tonne of imported foul medames (fava beans) has now jumped to LE5,000 ($730), LE2,000 ($292) higher than January, Naim Nashed Moawad, a member in the FECC Grain Ddivision, told Al-Ahram. Moawad, who owns a company for importing and exporting grain, noted that the local production of beans only covers consumption for two months, and imports cover the other 10 months. Daily consumption hit 1,500 tonnes, which increased up to 6,000 tonnes during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. Fava beans are a basic food staple for most Egyptian people of all classes and ages, especially in the morning. Moawad said that banks offer dollars only for importing strategic foodstuff such as flour, sugar and edible oils. As for lentils, Moawad said that local production is now zero at the time when annual consumption hit 8,000 tonnes yearly. Imported dairy products have not escaped the impact of the rise in the dollar rate of exchange. Imports of raw milk and other milk products hit 192,528 tonnes last year. A tonne of these products that cost LE18,000 ($2,628) in January, jumped to LE28,000 ($4,088) at present, owing to the hike of the dollar, according to Fathi Kamel, owner of a dairy company. He added that local production provides 35 to 40 per cent of the consumption, which fell by about 15 per cent after the surge in prices.
