Parliamentary sources said that the Ministry of Finance refused a request by the parliamentary Agriculture and Irrigation Committee to raise the price of a sugarcane tonne to EGP 700 and a tonne of beet to EGP 600.
The sources said that the Ministry of Finance has approved a price of EGP 620 for the sugarcane tonne, while the price of a beet tonne was not agreed upon yet.
Member of the committee Magdy Maximus said earlier that the committee had submitted a memo to the government to increase the price of the sugarcane tonne to EGP 700 and the price of the beet tonne to EGP 600.
Deputy head of the Agriculture and Irrigation Committee El-Sayyed Hassan said that a price below EGP 700 would not be enough to cover the costs which farmers are currently incurring for acreage. He added that EGP 700 is a satisfactory price for both companies and farmers.
Maximus said that the price of a sugarcane tonne had been set at EGP 620 in the current period, but the price of a tonne of beet was yet not agreed on.
He added that the agreed price for the sugarcane yield of this season will be reconsidered later, with the stability of the Egyptian pound’s exchange rate against the US dollar, and that the global prices of sugar global will be taken into consideration.
The parliament’s Planning and Budget Committee had earlier demanded to increase the allocations for supporting the agricultural sector in the current fiscal year given the increase in the costs of agriculture elements, such as fertilisers, seeds, and labour.
EGP 5.2bn are allocated to support the agriculture sector in the budget of the current fiscal year, out of the total subsidy allocations that amount to EGP 210bn.
The Farmers Syndicate refused to increase the price of the sugarcane tonne from EGP 500 to EGP 620, saying that it causes farmers losses.
Deputy head of the syndicate El-Nouby Abu El-Loaz said in press statements that the fair price of the sugarcane tonne should not be below EGP 800 and that they will meet with the government to increase the prices again.
