The recent gas crisis has driven up the prices of certain food commodities and construction materials as transport costs increase by 20 percent.
 
According to a report entitled “The Market Thermometer” issued by the Sharqia Commerce Chamber, the general price indicator for prices of commodities has risen by 1.5 percent.
 
The report, of which Al-Masry Al-Youm obtained a copy, pointed out that the price of fish has increased by 8 percent due to the gas shortage and a drop in fishing activity and farming production in the summer.
 
The prices of live poultry and some construction materials climbed by 3.3 percent. Suez cement rose from LE500 to LE530 per ton and Sinai cement from LE485 to LE510 per ton.
 
The price of construction sand rose from LE25 to LE30 per meter and that of gravel from LE90 to LE110 per meter. Meanwhile, the price of steel remained at around LE4700 to LE4800 per ton.
 
The prices of non-food commodities remained generally stable.
 
Emad Abdeen, secretary for foodstuffs chamber, said the shortage of gas has led to a 40 percent deficit in sugar and oil since the beginning of the week.
 
A prominent official from the Petroleum Ministry told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) provides 40,000 tons of gas daily and therefore there should be no shortage. He added that Hani Dahi, the head of the EGPC, on Friday obtained a video showing the smuggling of gas out of the country in Ezbet al-Borg, near the north coast resort of Ras al-Barr.
 
Textile companies, meanwhile, have called on the Petroleum Ministry to hook their factories up to natural gas, saying the gas shortage has affected their production.
 
Mohamed al-Morshedi, the head of the textile industries chamber, said his chamber has called for natural gas hookups, complaining that most of the factories in his sector depend on gas.
 
Translated from the Arabic Edition