The Central Bank of Egypt announced in a statement on Wednesday that it obtained the necessary funds in USD to cover 4,000 shipments of production requirements and food commodities over the past 48 hours.
Commissioned by the state, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the Chamber of Food Industries in the Federation of Industries communicated with producers and importers of food commodities to inventory the production requirements and basic commodities in ports.
They have also been asked to note any shortage of raw materials they find to ensure factories operate at full capacity to increase supply, achieve abundance, and create competition for price stability.
Alaa Ezz — Secretary-General of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce — said that with the full support and continuous meetings held with the prime minister; the governor of the CBE; the ministers of supply and trade and Industry, the president of the Union of Banks, and all concerned agencies, the currency was obtained for more than 4,000 shipments of production supplies and foodstuffs.
He urged all factories and importers of food commodities to ensure that they have a sufficient balance in EGP available to cover their documents according to the current currency rate.
Ezz added that due to the large quantities of raw materials needed in many factories, there is a possibility there may be a shortage in one of the components, which may disrupt production.
A system is currently being designed in banks to exchange raw materials between factories of similar food products that could be generalised later across the entire Egyptian industry to reduce working capital and imports while ensuring sufficient balances for factories are available.
This will also maximise economic return and increase the competitiveness of the Egyptian industry locally and internationally, reducing prices and developing exports.
Ezz said that the supply and industry ministers had agreed with the manufacturers and importers of food commodities and commercial chains that food industry factories should operate at full capacity and that they would be providing all production requirements to reach the maximum capacity with the aim of increasing the supply of goods in all governorates and creating competition for price stability.
This is in addition to developing the necessary mechanisms to monitor the supply chains and verify that nobody is withholding any commodity through the internal control of producers to ensure that no sudden price hikes take place in the coming months.
