BITTERSWEET: THE HIGH COSTS OF EGYPT’S LOVE FOR SUGAR
▶ Obesity fears, short supplies and tax rises have failed to kill Egyptians’ appetite for sugar, writes, Adham Youssef in Cairo
Egypt is facing a bitter battle over sugar. Egyptians eat large amounts of it, to the extent that almost one in 10 suffers from diabetes, while growing it locally is a drain on scarce water resources, and imports to meet a shortfall in supply are a strain on the country’s precious foreign reserves.
The population of about 90 million gets through 3.4 million tonnes of sugar each year, industry experts say. That works out to more than 35 kilograms of sugar for every man, woman and child
“I put two to three small spoonfuls in my tea and I have four to five cups a day,” says Mohamed Abbas, 47, a schoolteacher in a Cairo preparatory school, adding that he buys up to 3 kilograms of sugar in a week.
Egypt’s sweet tooth means there is a great sensitivity to any change in the supply or affordability of sugar.
In January 1977, a decision by Anwar Sadat’s government to lift subsidies on sugar and other basic commodities sparked two days of rioting in which dozens were killed before the army was called out to quell dissent. The subsidies were restored the next day.
In September 2016, the price of sugar almost tripled, from 6 Egyptian pounds (Dh1.25) a kilo to 17. The government blamed the increase on a shortage created by companies exporting 250,000 tonnes of the country’s stock of 750,000 tonnes.
But the government’s inability to import supplies because of a shortage of foreign currency in the lead-up to a major IMF bailout was also a factor.
An official from the military’s National Service Projects Organisation, which comprises companies operating in a sectors ranging from cement to chemicals and agriculture, told The National that “if the armed forces are aware of any future shortages or crises, it will react accordingly.
“This happened with the sugar crisis in 2016, and the baby formula shortage in 2015.”
But it has become increasingly difficult to satisfy Egypt’s sweet tooth as a result of the rapid growth in the population, which was 30 million in the 1970s. Local production, which outstripped demand by almost 20 per cent at that time, fell short by 30 per cent in 2016.
Last year the country produced 2.4 million tonnes of sugar but consumption reached 3.4 million tonnes.
This shortfall has created a dilemma for politicians and players in the sugar industry.
The government controls the domestic sugar market through stockpiles and tariffs, such as an export duty of 3,000 pounds a tonne imposed in April last year to ensure supply and keep prices down.
The tariff was lifted this month because, according to a source in the Ministry of Trade, there was stability in the amount of sugar available. “The companies have a surplus. There is no use in storing sugar,” the source said.
But Mohamed Fawzy, chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said: “The companies will prefer quick profit and begin to export reserves, which will eventually affect the local market.”
He said the surplus of 800,000 tonnes could be completely depleted through two or three months of exports, leading to a new crisis.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has imposed new taxes and tried to move Egypt towards a free-market economy since taking charge of the country in 2013, including by reducing state subsidies.
The amount allotted for subsidies in the 2018-19 budget is 89.08bn pounds, down from 120.93bn in the previous year. Fuel subsidies have been cut four times since 2014.
Nevertheless, the government is caught between offering welfare to impoverished citizens and implementing economic reforms under a programme supported by the International Monetary Fund.
With unemployment high and the economy still to recover from years of turmoil after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, keeping essential goods affordable is crucial.
A testament to this is crowds outside state outlets that sell sugar and other products at subsidised goods.
One such crowd is clustered at two shops, one run by the military and other by the Interior Ministry, in Cairo’s Ramses Square.
“The people are facing several price hikes. We are there to reduce their suffering and to make sure no one tries to ignite dissent,” said Osama, a retired police major at the ministry shop.
A kilo of sugar at such shops can be had for 8.5 pounds. That is one pound less than the original cost, according to the Holding Company for Food Industries affiliated with the Ministry of Supply, and 2 to 4 pounds cheaper than in normal stores.
The state faces another balancing act in Upper Egypt, the source of all domestic sugar production, where 136,500 hectares are given over to growing cane and beets.
In a country with scarce water resources, one million of the 2.4 million tonnes produced each year is from sugar cane, a water-intensive crop.
With the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam being built on the Blue Nile threatening to reduce Egypt’s water supply, the government is seeking to limit the farming of water-intensive crops.
Egypt’s appetite for sugar is also extracting another cost – on public health.
According to the World Health Organisation’s report for 2016, Egypt had an obesity rate of 32 per cent among people above 18, placing it fourth among all countries and not far behind Kuwait, which topped the list with a 37.9 per cent obesity rate.
And nearly one in 10 Egyptians – 8,222,600 – are diabetic, according to last year’s figures from the International Diabetes Federation.
Mohamed Emara, a cardiologist at the 6 October hospital in Cairo, blames a diet high sugar and fats.
“The availability of such products and how the media and restaurants promote them makes people crave them, though healthy and delicious alternatives exist with healthy fats,” Dr Emara said.
The diet described by Mr Abbas would be typical. In addition to his tea habit, he said he ate snacks and pastries, fast food on the street and sweets offered to him at the homes of students he tutors privately.
In the 1950s most of the cases of diabetes in Egypt were hereditary, Dr Emara said.
“Now, you can see young women and men in their 20s with no family record of the illness suffering from the disease.”
Yet despite the toll on its citizens and the economy, the risk of social unrest and environmental catastrophe, there is no sign that Egypt will be weaned off its sugar addiction any time soon.