Egypt is considering increasing the price of tourist bread by 15 percent amid rising production costs

Egyptians are anticipating an increase in the prices of “free” or tourist bread, according to assurances from the “Bakery Division of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce” indicating an increase of 15 percent, and government assurances that “the demands for this increase will be studied.”

Egypt is witnessing successive waves of high prices and a continuous rise in the prices of most commodities, exacerbated by regional tensions in the region. The government approved increases in the prices of various services (gasoline, electricity, water, communications) last period.

Abdullah Ghorab, head of the General Bakeries Division at the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce, says, “The Ministry of Supply is considering increasing the prices of tourist bread and fino by 15 percent.” He confirms to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the ministry’s final decision regarding the expected increase will be determined early next week.” He explained the Division’s request regarding the increase by saying that “a ton of flour has risen by 4,000 pounds (the dollar equals 52 pounds), and it is difficult for merchants to adhere to the current prices previously set by the Ministry of Supply.”

Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Sherif Farouk explained that “the General Division of Bakeries submitted a request to increase the price of tourist bread by a percentage commensurate with the rise in the price of free flour, in light of the high prices of wheat used in its production.”

He added in televised statements with journalist Amr Adeeb on his program on MBC Misr, on Monday evening, that “the request submitted by the General Division of Bakeries is currently being studied, in addition to carefully reviewing the cost elements, to determine the size of the actual increase in the cost of production, and the extent to which it is reflected in the cost of producing the loaf.”

He also pointed out that “the Ministry of Supply does not deal with the request to increase the price of tourist bread from one angle, but rather reviews the various cost elements and variables related to the production market, in light of the request submitted by the General Division of Bakeries.”

The Ministry of Supply had stressed in a statement, on Monday evening, that the owners of tourist and French bakeries should adhere to Ministerial Directive No. 5 of 2026, which regulates the prices and weights of free bread and fino, stressing that “the ministerial directive is still in effect.”

The Ministry confirmed that “any violation of the provisions of the ministerial directive will be faced with the necessary legal measures against violators, which in some of its provisions amount to imprisonment and a fine.” It also indicated “the intensification of oversight campaigns on bakeries in various governorates after monitoring violations related to prices and weights,” and called on citizens to “report any violations related to the prices or weights of tourist bread and fino.”

Forty-year-old Amina Abdel Hamid, a housewife who lives in the Ain Shams area (east of Cairo), noticed a change in the price of “tourist living.” She says, “A few days ago, the price of a loaf was increased by 50 piasters,” pointing out, “I was buying a small loaf for 2 pounds, and suddenly it reached 2.50 pounds, and when I asked the bakery owner about this increase, he did not answer me.” Abdel Hamid used to buy a small loaf for two pounds and a large loaf for three pounds.

The ministerial directive for “Supply” stipulates that the maximum price for a loaf of free tourist bread weighing 80 grams is two pounds, a loaf of 60 grams weighs at 1.5 pounds, and a loaf of 40 grams weighs at one pound.

“Bread” constitutes the main ingredient on Egyptians’ tables, and according to previous official statistics from the Ministry of Supply, about 73 million citizens receive popular subsidized bread through “ration cards,” which number about 23 million cards. According to observers, “thousands of Egyptians who do not have ration cards are forced to buy (tourist bread) at a free price.”

Merchants and bakery owners are demanding that the Ministry of Supply increase the price of tourist bread in light of the recent rises in the cost of production. Hamdi Farghali (a pseudonym), the owner of a tourist bakery in the Matareya area (east of Cairo), told Asharq Al-Awsat: The prices of tourist bread must be reconsidered in conjunction with the high cost of production requirements, especially flour.

He confirms that “the price of a ton of flour has risen from 16.5 thousand pounds since last June to 20 thousand pounds now.” He points out that “the Ministry promised to review flour prices, and if they continue at their current levels, it will reconsider the prices of tourist bread in light of the new production costs,” but he said that “the Ministry has not determined the percentage of the potential increase at the present time.”

But economic expert Mustafa Badra believes that “it is likely to approve an increase estimated at about 15 percent on (tourist bread) with an increase in wheat, which is estimated at 4 or 5 thousand pounds per ton of wheat.”

He explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that “this increase in wheat has a return and is charged to the final consumer, and this is the policy followed by the government to transfer any increase to the final consumer.” He points out that “as long as there are changes in price levels, they will be charged to the final citizen.”

The announcement of an expected increase in the price of “tourist bread” was not the first. During the past month, the “Bakery Division” said that “there is an increase in the price of tourist bread estimated at about 12.5 percent.”

But Ghorab confirmed that “this increase was not implemented at the time,” explaining: “We asked the ministry for it last August, and we confirmed our desire to do so, and the ministry promised then to study it; But it was not implemented.”

Ghorab is conditional on “the failure to implement the new increase on the stability of supply chains,” and confirms that “a search is underway for new origins of wheat.”

The government had previously raised the price of “subsidized popular bread” in May 2024 from 5 piasters to 20 piasters per loaf, in a move it said at the time aimed to “reduce the subsidy bill for a loaf of bread by about 130 billion pounds annually.”

According to Badra, “There must be a flexible policy with support from the government. Because the cost has become great for the simple citizen, especially in the current circumstances with global political changes,” but he does not rule out another increase in “tourist bread” if fuel prices are raised during the coming period due to the cost of transportation.

Tariq Abdel Rahman stands behind a small “pallet” in one of Omdurman’s markets, on which he sells household supplies. In another part of the market, his sister Mawada sells light foods, such as falafel, fava beans, spices, and snacks. At the end of the day, the two return with what they have earned to help their family, displaced from El Fasher, buy food and medicine.

Since the Rapid Support Forces took control of El Fasher in October 2025, the family does not know the fate of the father, Abdel Rahman Idris, a soldier, nor the fate of his son Idris. The mother, Rahma Adam, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I have not received my husband’s salary yet, and we depend on Tariq’s work and the intermittent affection and support that comes to us from those around us.”

The family arrived in Khartoum carrying with them their concern for the missing people, and found themselves facing the burdens of housing, living, and treatment. in the beginning.

El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, had spent about 18 months under siege imposed by the Rapid Support Forces, amid repeated bombings and a severe shortage of food and medical care. In October 2025, the forces took control of the city, and residents fled through dangerous roads, while families were separated and lost contact with their members. Among those families is the Rahma family, which arrived in Khartoum without knowing the fate of the father and his son.

Rahma prepared falafel and spices and sold them to buy flour, sugar, soap, and other necessities. But she stopped working about a month ago after her health deteriorated.

She says: “My heart hurt, and when I saw a specialist in the city of Atbara, they told me that I had an enlarged heart muscle.” She adds that she received medications, but her condition worsened again, and she no longer had enough money to buy them. She hopes to travel to Cairo for treatment if her circumstances permit, but she says: “Currently we have almost nothing.”

According to a monitoring of the markets in February 2026, the value of the basket of minimum basic household expenses in Sudan amounted to about 515 thousand pounds per month (about 50 dollars). This is an estimate at the national level, and not an account of Rahma’s family’s expenses, but it shows the size of the cost of basic needs before adding treatment and transportation.

Price fluctuations make it more difficult to meet these needs. On September 22, Reuters quoted a shopper in Omdurman that the price of a liter of cooking oil rose within a week from 17,000 to 23,000 pounds. It quoted a worker in the city who earns about 500,000 pounds per month as having to work as a part-time driver to cover his expenses. His salary does not represent the average wage or income for Rahma's family, but it gives a picture of the price pressure on workers in the city.

Tariq goes out to the market in the morning and returns in the evening with whatever sales he can. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that his income is limited, but it has become an essential resource for the family after his mother’s illness: “Our main concern has become to work every day and save what we can until these circumstances pass.”

Mawaddah continues the work that her mother used to do, selling food and spices, then returning to help her at home and accompany her to the doctor. She says: “What we get is not enough to cover all our needs, but it helps us buy food and some necessities.” For her, work became “a means of survival and making ends meet” in the absence of a stable income.

As for their sister, Manal, she was in the third year in the Sociology Department at the Faculty of Arts at El Fasher University. She tried to continue her studies after moving the university to Omdurman, but the fare to return from the family’s place of residence was not available regularly. She says: “I want to complete my education, but the road fare has become competitive with the needs of food and my mother’s treatment for the little money available, so I dropped out of school.”

When the family arrived in Khartoum, neighbors provided them with clothes, sheets, beds, and some household utensils, helping them start their life in the place of displacement. But this assistance did not provide a continuous income. With Rahma stopping work, the children were faced with one question every morning: Are today’s sales sufficient for food at home and treatment for the mother?

Between a father and a son whose fate is unknown, a mother awaiting treatment, and a daughter who dropped out of university, the impact of the war appears in small daily details: a meal that must be provided, medicine that may be delayed in purchasing, and transportation fare that is not available. At the end of each day, the family returns with what they collected from the market, then prepares for a new attempt the next morning.

On Monday morning, drones likely belonging to the Rapid Support Forces bombed the Sports City, Shikan University College, and public facilities in the city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State in the west of the country, in the latest attack of its kind on the city. A military source said that a bombing targeted a sports stadium northwest of the city, killing one person and wounding ten others.

The spokesman for the North Kordofan state government, Jamaa Al-Mahdi Jamaa, said in a statement that the “Rapid Support Forces” marches targeted civil, educational and sports facilities, most notably the Sports City and Shikan University College, considering the attack an attack on citizens and their capabilities, and called on the international community and human rights organizations to document the attack and hold those responsible for it accountable.

On the other hand, the Rapid Support Forces said that their marches targeted weapons and ammunition stores inside the headquarters of the army’s Fifth Infantry Division, known as Al-Haganah, in addition to other military sites in Al-Obeid, claiming that they inflicted heavy losses on the army.

Attack on Gezira State

The attack on Al-Obeid came the day after a march targeted the “Umm Alila” fuel depots near Abu Haraz, about 20 kilometers northeast of the city of Wad Madani, the capital of Al-Jazeera State in central Sudan. At the time, Agence France-Presse reported that a drone hit the fuel tanks, while a witness reported that he saw flames rising from the fire site from a distance of about 3 kilometers.

The Gezira state government accused the Rapid Support Forces of carrying out the attack.

Al Jazeera State Radio and Television Corporation said that the bombing hit two gasoline tanks out of four tanks in the warehouse, noting that civil defense teams were able to control the fire without recording any deaths.

In a related context, what is known as the “Al-Jazeera Conference Authority” announced the fall of 3 drones in agricultural fields in the village of Wad Al-Barr Al-Khawalda, without clarifying the circumstances of their fall or whether they were shot down by air defenses. No military source referred to it among the marches that the armed forces announced.

Frequent attacks

The city of El Obeid has been subjected to repeated drone attacks for months, the frequency of which escalated during this September. On September 25, the state government said that an attack by Rapid Support Forces drones killed two people and injured 20 others, after it targeted a center for sheltering displaced people and civilian sites.

On the same day, the “Tasis” coalition, allied with the “Rapid Support Forces,” accused the Sudanese army of bombing the Al-Mazroub area with a drone, saying that the attack resulted in the death of 9 people and the injury of 24 others.

On September 20, local sources reported that 4 drones attacked Al-Obeid, targeting the army headquarters and the Ministry of Finance building. The guard of the College of Developmental and Technological Sciences in the city was also killed on September 9, as a result of drone bombing that damaged the college buildings, according to local sources.

The attacks spread to other areas, as at least 18 people were killed and 22 others were injured in an attack targeting Umm Rawaba Court on September 8. In the city of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, where the parallel “establishment” government is based, attacks were also recorded that were attributed to army marches.

Residents reported that one person was killed and his two children were injured in a strike that occurred on September 8, while local sources said that another attack targeted the headquarters of the Rapid Support Forces in the city on September 27, causing losses whose toll was not specified.