The government is looking at ways to monitor the prices of phosphate fertilizers to ensure the implementation of market mechanisms and curb monopolies.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Ministry is working to address the shortage of superphosphate fertilizers produced by Abu Zaabal Fertilisers and Chemical Company and and the Egyptian Financial and Industrial Company.
Official sources from the Agriculture Ministry accused companies that produce phosphate fertilisers of exploiting the current political conditions in the country to carry out monopolistic practices and raise the prices of fertilizers from LE750 to LE900 a ton.
The source called on the Armed Forces to establish a new factory for the production of such fertilizers using its experience in that field.
The same source said that three companies have monopolized the production of phosphate fertilizers–with a daily production of more than 4,000 tons a day–which threatens to raise the cost of agricultural production for the coming winter season. The source said that these companies want to boost their profits without considering the social dimension of raising their prices.
Meanwhile, senior government sources called on the Agriculture Ministry to activate the monitoring role of the fertilizers committee to detect violations which have become widespread over the past years and threaten to increase the cost of agricultural production and reduce the quality of the produce.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
