The price of chicken has been following a downward trajectory in Egypt, in a drop that while making consumers happy seriously threatens industry players with exiting the market.
The price of poultry is low, making buying a 1.5 kg chicken at LE130 (LE86 per kg) much more affordable for an average family than purchasing two cans of tuna or preparing cheese sandwiches, according to Mohamed Abdel-Wahed, a retailer.
What the industry has been witnessing recently is not a temporary problem but rather the consequence of allowing the market to be taken hostage by unchecked speculative practices, he said.
“Unless corrected, these drastic price swings will continue to harm farmers, consumers, and the state,” said Mohamed Al-Anani, a veteran poultry farmer.
“The poultry market is an industry that contributes to the nation’s food security and supports the livelihoods of millions of people who work in it or related activities. When pricing is not driven by the fundamental forces of supply and demand but is instead manipulated by speculation or unethical deals among intermediaries and traders, it constitutes a serious threat, not merely a ‘bearish market phenomenon,’” Al-Anani said.
Last year, a kg of chicken was selling for LE110. This price included the farm price, transportation and feed costs, the intermediaries’ commission, and the wholesaler’s markup, according to Abdel-Wahed.
Farmers are now losing money because they are being forced to sell poultry below cost. Mustafa Ragab, who has worked in poultry farming for 11 years, points out that after calculating the cost of feed and the duration of the fattening cycle, the true cost of one kg of chicken is LE65.
“However, farmers opt to sell at a price of LE57 per kg, a necessity driven by the greediness of intermediaries who stand between them and the retailers.”
He further explained that the middlemen’s pursuit of commissions leads to competition to lower purchase prices from farms. He noted that sometimes traders offer up to LE1,000 in commission if a kg of chicken is sold for LE56.
Another side of the problem is that the feed trade is governed by monopolies that have managed to keep prices high despite the drop in import costs as the dollar loses ground to the Egyptian pound.
Al-Anani said that the crisis initially intensified when feed prices skyrocketed.
“In 2022, a ton of feed was around LE8,000 before jumping to LE30,000 due to import disruptions, stockpiling, and restrictions on customs clearances,” he explained.
However, even after the dollar shortage eased, prices did not return to normal levels due to monopolistic practices. The price of one ton of feed now hovers around LE22,000, a figure that is far higher than the real cost, according to Al-Anani.
This puts farmers between a rock and a hard place: while they are reluctant to sell to intermediaries at such low prices, they cannot afford to keep the chickens due to the prohibitive cost of feed.
“Taking into account labour costs, veterinary costs, and potential losses, farmers are often forced to sell at a loss just to stay operational in the market,” Ragab added.
Al-Anani said that for the past two years, the market has witnessed successive waves of price hikes for chicks, reaching LE40 to LE60 per kg for extended periods, despite the actual cost not justifying these levels.
“This increase was not due to a shortage in production but was primarily driven by the manipulation of supply and illicit coordination between some large breeders and middlemen,” Al-Anani told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Due to the strong demand from poultry companies to buy chicks in late 2024, the daily production of hatcheries increased, reaching 6,000,000 chicks, even though the local market demand is only around 4,000,000.
This oversupply contributed to the decline in prices not only of chickens but also of chicks, which, according to Ragab, are now being sold at an average of LE25.
Ismail Al-Shahat, who has worked in poultry and livestock farming since 1982, says the solution lies in expanding the area cultivated for corn by importing seeds that increase yield per feddan to seven tons instead of the current three or four.
Corn and soybeans are essential components of animal feed.
Al-Shahat suggests cultivating 2.5 million feddans of corn to eventually eliminate the need to import corn and soybeans, a process that currently costs $8 million or more annually.
“This would also lead to a decrease in livestock and fish prices, as protein production is interconnected,” Al-Shahat said.
He emphasised that in a free-market economy the state cannot set prices for feed sellers. The price of feed is determined by the cost of inputs and services, and even if monopolistic practices exist, they are difficult to prove.
The setting up of an official poultry exchange to decide prices according to supply and demand is a crucial demand of farm owners. The Banha Poultry Stock Exchange has been closed since 2006.
Poultry prices in Egypt are determined through negotiation between farmers, traders, and sellers, and are tracked daily via specialised platforms and market notices.
News sites and specialist websites publish real‑time price tables that are locally referred to as the “poultry exchange”, but this is not an official exchange or a government body that sets prices.
Tarek Suleiman, head of the Livestock and Poultry Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, told the Weekly that the government is in the process of activating a poultry exchange in discussions between the Ministry of Supply and other relevant authorities.
He said that Egyptian market monitoring shows that the price of chicks and feed represents 80 to 85 per cent of the total cost of chickens, and that prices sometimes fluctuate due to seasonal variations in demand.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 December, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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