03:44 PM
Wednesday 24 August 2022
I wrote – Dina Khaled:
Makers and merchants, who spoke to Masrawy, said that the markets are currently witnessing the disappearance of a number of imported goods and devices and a shortage of some types of home-made household appliances, as a result of the lack of production requirements due to the delay in opening documentary credits.
The Central Bank had issued a decision last February to stop dealing with collection documents in all import operations and to work with documentary credits instead, before presidential directives with the exception of production requirements and raw materials from opening documentary credits in banks before the import process last May.
Ashraf Hilal, head of the Household Appliances Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Masrawy that there is a severe shortage in the market in the current period of imported household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, food preparations and others, some of which are scarce in the market.
Hilal added that this shortage is caused by stopping the import of finished products as long as they have a local alternative.
Shortage of production supplies
Ashraf Helal said that although there is a local production of household appliances that is sufficient for consumption, there is a shortage of some brands, brands and models.
Hilal attributed the decline in the supply of the local product to the delay in opening documentary credits to import production requirements that enter the manufacture of these devices, due to the difficulty of managing currency, especially after banks did not accept foreign currencies managed by investors from exchange companies.
The banks approved new instructions last April to prevent the acceptance of foreign exchange resources of unknown source or obtained by customers from exchange companies, in import operations.
Mohamed Al-Mohandes, head of the Chamber of Engineering Industries in the Federation of Industries, told Masrawy that there are obstacles in the manufacture of appliances and household appliances locally in the current period, the most important of which is the lack of imported production inputs and the delay in importing.
The engineer believes that the delay in importing is a result of the difficulty of providing currency, especially after the Central Bank’s instructions to refrain from accepting foreign currencies arranged by clients from exchange companies.
He added that there are factories that began to be affected by the problem of lack of production requirements, some of which stopped working, which led to a shortage of products and household appliances in the market.
The engineer pointed out that the local market is currently witnessing a shortage of models of home appliances in most brands, “for example, if the company manufactures 10 models of refrigerators of different sizes and capabilities, there are currently 3 or 4 models available in the market at most.”
And Yusri Kotb, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Universal Home Appliances Company, agreed with him, saying that there are problems facing the manufacture of the local product, the most important of which is the lack of production requirements and components, which led to the lack of supply of household appliances in the market.
Qutb attributed the shortage of production requirements to several problems, the most important of which is the delay in opening documentary credits.
He added that Egyptian companies are able to cover the needs of the local market, but there is a shortage of some models in all companies.
Short supply raises prices
Mohamed Al-Mohandes said that the lack of supply of household appliances led to a significant increase in the prices of the models available in the market.
He added that the lack of supply of imported products led to an increase in the prices of their local alternatives, with an average increase of 7% within 3 months.
Hilal explained that with the shortage of a number of models and items, consumers are always looking for alternative items or models.
Qutb pointed out that the lack of supply, the lack of production requirements, and the rise in the price of the dollar against the pound, led to a significant increase in the prices of devices in the local market during the last period.