Mobile phone traders division of Cairo Chamber of Commerce has called on the customs authority to release the cargo containers kept inside harbors, as importers have suffered huge losses due to increase in prices.
In a statement on Wednesday, the division said the crisis erupted after the customs authority imposed indicative prices that could exceed the current ones by over 800 percent, which made the importers unable to pay or offer their goods on the market.
The division said it had received complaints from importers over the price hike. It added that Finance Ministry and the authority were addressed over releasing the stacked cargo at the previous prices and forming a committee to set fair prices that respect the rights of all parties.
Waleed Ramadan, vice-chief of the division, said, “The main demand is releasing the cargo containers which range between 150-200 containers stacked at harbors, as this results in higher storage fees, causing an increase in the costs of the goods, which will eventually harm the market and the consumers.”
Mossad Hamdy, deputy finance minister at the customs department, said that ”indicative price targets limiting counterfeiting of bills and exaggeration in prices of goods.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
