The cost of fuel products has risen, leading to a spike in the prices of other commodities, including unsubsidised bread.
The increase was made by Egypt’s Automatic Pricing Committee for Petroleum Products (APCPP) on 11 April.
The hike in fuel products includes various grades of gasoline, diesel, industrial diesel, gas allocated for brick factories, and butane gas.
The APCPP raised the prices of fuel products three times in 2024: in March, June, and October. The price of diesel fuel surged by 55 per cent, rising from LE13.5 in March 2024 to the current LE15.5. The price of domestic and commercial butane gas cylinders increased by over 30 per cent, from LE150 to LE200, and from LE300 to LE400, respectively, excluding distribution costs.
Bakeries providing non-subsidised bread, as well as restaurants, rely either on diesel fuel or commercial-grade butane cylinders, which means they will either increase prices or decrease quality.
“We are caught between two fires,” said Murad, owner of a non-subsidised baladi bread bakery (baladi bread is rustic Egyptian flatbread similar to pita). He said the cost of a ton of fine flour had increased by LE500, and with the soaring price of butane gas alongside the spiralling price of butane gas, Murad is left with no alternative but to raise the price or reduce the weight. “For now, I will use my existing stock of flour. Once depleted, I will raise the price of a large loaf by LE1, bringing it to LE3, and the small loaf by LE0.5, bringing it to LE2.”
Abdallah Ghorab, head of the Egyptian Bakeries Division, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the LE2 increase in diesel per litre is a substantial burden for the production of non-subsidised bread, with 16 litres of diesel needed to process one sack of flour.
The General Bakeries Division of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce has asked the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade to apply a 30 per cent increase in the price of non-subsidised bread.
Sources at the division said a meeting between the ministry and division will take place soon to discuss the cost of non-subsidised bread and the application of a unified card system for the distribution of non-subsidised bread. The meeting will tackle mechanisms of pricing non-subsidised bread, taking into consideration bakery production challenges amid the discrepancies in pricing based on the weight of the loaf.
Ghorab expects a 20-30 per cent rise in the price of non-subsidised bread, reflecting the surge in the cost of production and transportation.
The bread price hike will be followed by an increase in Egypt’s most popular sandwich — fuul, comprising fava beans.
Mohamed, the owner of a fuul and taameya (falafel) restaurant in Cairo’s Zeitoun district, told the Weekly he lamented the fact he will have to raise the price of sandwiches. While uncertain about the exact increase, Mohamed expects to raise the price of a fuul sandwich by at least LE1 due to higher transportation costs for raw materials and the rising cost of bread, despite the fact his restaurant operates on natural gas.
“I do not want to raise prices,” he said, “but it’s the only way to keep the business going.”
Minister of Supply Sherif Farouk said the price of subsidised baladi bread, distributed through ration cards, will remain at LE0.20 per loaf. The government will pay bakeries selling non-subsidised bread the difference in production cost, including higher diesel prices, he added.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 17 April, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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