Corn import bill increases to $1.5bn monthly: Poultry Association

Vice President of the Egyptian Poultry Association Anwar Al-Abd has said that the corn import bill increased to $1.5bn monthly in 2023, compared to $700m monthly in the past two years. This caused an exaggerated increase in prices of poultry.

He added that this crisis was not the responsibility of the Egyptian state and it is unfair to accuse the government of negligence, but it is a global crisis that affected Egypt. 

Al-Abd said that the poultry industry in Egypt consumes 500,000 tonnes of corn per month, approximately 6 million tonnes per year, adding: “If there is stability in production cost, productivity will be doubled.”

He noted that Egypt was self-sufficient in poultry and the last setback in the sector was in 2006 due to the Bird Flu during which the sector dropped by 80%, until vaccines arrived and the sector once again became self-sufficient.

Al-Abd stated that after the end of the 2006 crisis, the poultry sector returned once again to work and export abroad, until COVID-19 fallout crisis, which affected maritime shipping and raw materials prices, and was followed by the Russian-Ukrainian war, which affected grain market and shipping. This caused prices to double at least 3 times, accordingly, the cost has been increased on poultry breeders and a large part of them were unable to continue their businesses inside the sector and exited it, which are external conditions that the state or the Egyptian government or even the responsible ministries have nothing to do with.