This week, the Economy and Agriculture Ministries released a new list of subsidized food items with fixed prices to combat monopolies and excessively high prices.
In that list, the official price of a carton of eggs is specified as 12,500 LBP. However, this price is not acceptable to the poultry farmers in Lebanon.
In a joint statement, they let out “a cry in the face of the official circular issued by Economy Ministry Raoul Nehme,” according to which the price of a carton of eggs for the consumer was set at the aforementioned standard price.
They complained about the lack of details about the subsidy and “the mechanism that was approved by the minister,” noting that “the ministry’s subsidy, according to its claim, covered hens’ chicks, vaccines, medicines, concentrates, and fodder.”
The displeased farmers went on to point out what they appeared to consider flaws in the new subsidy system, asking caretaker Minister Nehme to clarify “who benefited from this subsidy that we only heard about through your appearance.”
Furthermore, they requested clarification about who received “the vaccines, the hens’ chicks, and the subsidized concentrates” from the Economy Ministry, asking whether they had been “captured by the mafias of traders.”
In conclusion, the farmers called on the official to refer to “the opinion of a group of experts in this field, from hatcheries, companies, engineers, breeders, and dealers to know the cost of the egg carton…”
On the basis of this opinion, the farmers argued, the price of the carton can be determined for the consumer “in a way that saves everyone.”
Earlier this week, caretaker Minister Nehme said that the prices of many commodities in Lebanon would drop sharply as a result of the new subsidies.
*Photo used for illustrative purposes only
