Campaigns to boycott fish, meat, and poultry across Egypt have continued for the second week with the tagline “No to Chickens” spreading across social media after the “Let them rot” campaign launched in Port Said helped drop fish prices.
During its tour of Ezbet al-Burg in Damietta, Al-Masry Al-Youm monitored the impact of the boycott campaign, as the large market once crowded with citizens and merchants was quieted down, with almost empty fish boxes.
Merchants in Damietta responded to citizen demands to reduce prices.
A major fish merchant in Damietta, Rashad al-Bash, said that it was agreed to reduce fish prices by approximately 30 percent, adding that the prices of some types of fish have still increased due to the approaching Sham al-Nessim holiday.
One of the leaders of the groups calling for boycott campaigns, Mahmoud Abul-Hassan, said: “Despite the decline in the price of meat in some governorates, Sohag Governorate has a strange insistence amongst butchers to sell a kilogram of local meat at a price of LE430.”
Poultry division drops prices
The Poultry Division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) announced that poultry prices reached LE 75 on the farm, compared to LE110 during Ramadan – a 30 percent decrease.
The head of the division, Sameh al-Sayed added that three main factors contributed to reducing the prices of poultry and eggs.
These reasons include the government initiative announced by the General Union of Poultry Producers which included setting the price of a kilo of live chickens on the farm to be less than LE85, while the price of live chickens for the consumer is at a maximum of LE95, and reducing prices by a percentage ranges between 10 and 15 percent in its first stage.
Sayed added that the second reason is government releases of feed, and the third is the stability of the exchange rate in light of the banking system’s provision of the necessary dollar component.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
