CAIRO - While many local shops displayed a big collection of salted fish as a feverish appetite for seafood hit the nation ahead of Monday's Sham el-Nisseem (a springtime festival), Cairo consumers were angry with the Government for a mighty 45 per cent increase in the prices of their favourite dish of fessikh and herrings.
Shop owners failed to sell tonnes of fessikh and herrings, which the majority of Egyptians eat on Sham el-Nisseem. "One kilo of fessikh sells for LE65 and a kilo of locally made ringa (herrings) sells for LE30," says shop owner Mohamed Hassan, adding that the sale of salted fish is slow because of high prices. On Sham el-Nisseem, the Egyptians devour this centuries-old dish of pickled fish, which is cleverly made of raw-but-aged salt mullet. Many consumers were angry with the high prices of fessikh, which they regarded as a sign indicating that the country is in a deep financial trouble. "Sales are down; people can't afford such prices," says Haj Amin as a small crowd gathered outside his shop in the eastern Cairo district of Hadayik el-Qubba, expressing outrage over the high prices and lashing out at the Government. Ahmed el-Nadi, an employee, warned that there would be an "explosion" if the Government let traders continue to raise prices. "The Government should solve the problem of food price increases. This key issue top its list of priorities," el-Nadi said, complaining that he could not pay LE65 to buy a kilo of fessikh, or LE35 to get a kilo of salted sardines to make his wife and children happy on Sham el-Nisseem. Nadia Youssef, a housewife, said that Egyptians bore the burden of paying for the soaring prices of food, while their salaries remained unchanged. "There is one word that describes these price increases: a nightmare,'' Nadia said, accusing the Government of mismanagement and doing nothing to reduce the prices of goods and services. Each month, the Egyptian citizen is afraid of the "mad" rise in food prices, she said, adding that the increases were continuing unchecked. "It is insane that one kilo of lemon, which is a necessity for eating fessikh, now costs eight Egyptian pounds ," Nadia said, adding that the consumers could not live like this. "May God help us. What can we do?" Hassan Abdou, a consumer, said. "All the Egyptians want whole scale pay reform. Wages are miserable compared to living expenses ��" and this has to change," Abdou, a Government employee, said, complaining that the cost of food, including fessikh, has risen so much since the January 25 revolution. Last week, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf promised that the Government would conduct a feasibility study into increasing salaries and wages next month. However, Abdou called on Sharaf to adopt a raft of measures aimed at lowering the retail prices of food items including poultry, meat, fish and eggs. "It was always fun for my children to colour eggs on Sham el-Nisseem (Arabic for smelling the breeze). These days, one white egg is sold for 70 piasters and the children will not be able to celebrate this habit, which goes back to the time of the Pharaohs," he said. Samir Fahmi, a schoolteacher, grouses that the retail price of salted fish had doubled before Sham el-Nisseem. "The Government should take decisions that are aimed at providing citizens with their meat, fish and dairy needs at reasonable prices in the run-up to Sham el-Nisseem," Fahmi said. He added that skyrocketing food prices in Egypt since the January 25 revolution were being matched by a rumbling wave of public discontent. The average salary of a graduate teacher now is 220 Egyptian pounds per month which doesn't buy very much, Fahmi said. "Given that salaries haven't risen in proportion to food costs, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to survive, particularly those who do not receive subsidised goods," he said. According to him, the cost of salted fish, a main staple food item on Sham el-Nisseem, showed a mighty leap of nearly 45 per cent from last year. "Night and day, each family sadly discusses rising food prices," he said, adding that the price jump in commodities was making a deeper impact on Egyptian households, which spend more than half of their monthly budget on food alone. “We are seeing a new wave of wild price increases such that most of the people can not afford ,” he said. In his view, the high prices of food, not shortages, are the problem facing all householders. Hassan, a shop owner, said that despite the price increase, fessikh still has a wonderful, delicate taste for the Egyptians, especially if it is accompanied by fresh-baked loaves of baladi bread, green onions and a squeeze of a fresh lime. "If prepared correctly, it is a delectable morsel," he said, adding that because of fessikh’s softness and unique taste, it is different from any fish dish on Sham el-Nisseem.
