Meat madness

Meat prices are soaring out of control. Ahmed Kotb investigates

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Meat prices are beyond control

In only a few months, and without any warning, meat prices have shot up by over 30 per cent. A kilo of local beef is now priced at LE55 up from LE40. Prices differ from one place to another and are at least LE10 more expensive in upper class districts. At today's prices, meat is increasingly affordable only to a few people. Even a popular boycott against meat launched in April did not succeed in bringing down prices, perhaps because not all consumers participated in it.

"Butchers are the last to blame for price instability," says Mohamed Wahba, head of the Butchers Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce (CCC), noting they are at the end of the cattle production cycle. Helmi Mohamed, a butcher in the Giza governorate, agrees: "Cattle breeders increase meat prices for slaughter houses, and there we get meat at higher prices and consequently sell it at a higher price," he said.

Mohamed, like many other butchers, claims that breeders are raising prices because of the rising cost of animal fodder.

For butcher Ali El-Kahwagi, prices skyrocketed also because of a large meat shipment made to Gaza after the recent opening the Rafah Crossing. He also points to over-slaughtering of females and calves because of a lack of inspections. "A female cow can produce up to 10 calves; imagine the amount of loss if it is slaughtered," he pointed out. "Egyptian livestock will become extinct in the next few years."

In response to soaring prices, the government's consumer outlets have spread in all governorates, created to support poor people with basic goods at a low cost. The government outlets offer imported meat at reasonable prices: LE27 per kilo for Brazilian meat, while Indian beef costs LE25 per kilo. "Despite the huge price difference between local and imported beef, we are suffering big losses," said Nageh Hassan, a consumer outlet manager.

Hassan says that demand is weak; that clients -- who are typically from the working class -- still find the prices unaffordable while those from the middle and upper class doubt the quality. He adds that the price of imported meat was raised after many tons of meat were held up at ports on claims of being infected. He believes that the meat is fit for consumption but inefficiency and poor quality assurance policies stand in the way.

Wahba argued that the real reason behind the crisis is that meat production only meets 45 per cent of Egypt's total consumption needs and that imports cannot fill the gap. "The only solution is to find ways to increase production," he said.

El-Kahwagi says there is a way to reach self- sufficiency. "The government should ban slaughtering calves and females immediately," he says, adding that there should be an ID system covering female cows, in order to ensure they are not slaughtered. "Only by doing this will prices drop again to normal levels."