The Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy inaugurated, Monday, the largest consumer complex in Upper Egypt in the Qena governorate.
The consumer complex, which is built on an area of 2,500 sqm, is affiliated to the Egyptian Company for Wholesale, a subsidiary of the Holding Company for Food Industries.
An agreement was held with the Qena governorate to allocate 15 acres of land in order to establish a large commercial complex, targeting the development of internal trade and attracting new investments to the region, said Hanafy during a press conference in Qena.
He added that the commercial complex will also create direct and indirect job opportunities for Qena citizens.
The project as well aims to control the market and to transform random trade into regular trade to reduce trade costs, said the minister.
Commenting on a campaign that is calling on citizens to boycott buying meat, the minister said that it dealt with the meat price increase by negotiating, through the Holding Company for Food Industries, to buy 105,000 tonnes of Sudanese meat at a price of EGP 40 per kilo.
The campaign was launched in August on social media platforms, calling on citizens to boycott buying meat in protest of the increasing prices of meat.
The ministry is also contracting to buy meat from different destinations with varied prices, said Hanafy, adding that the ministry is cooperating with the civil society organisations to contribute by offering meat in different regions at discounted prices. This has pushed the private sector in several areas to reduce their prices due to recession.
Hanafy also added that this strategy is not only limited on offering discounted meat in Eid Al-Adha, but will be extended all year long.
Responding on a question regarding new sugar imports, Hanafy denied the ministry’s intention to import sugar, noting that the ministry buys sugar through the Egyptian Sugar and Integrated Industries Company (SIIC), which has a production capacity of 1.2m tonnes.
