Safwan Thabet's Juhayna To Lift Prices As Costs Surge, Defying Egypt's Cut Drive

Juhayna Food Industries SAE, the dairy and juice maker founded by Egyptian businessman Safwan Thabet, will gradually raise product prices in the coming period even as Cairo presses retailers to cut the cost of staples. The company disclosed the plan to the Egyptian Exchange on Aug. 27, saying it aims to blunt input-cost pressure without crimping volumes. Juhayna said its cost of sales jumped 58 year on year in 1Q25, a squeeze it had temporarily cushioned by drawing down inventories bought before Marchs currency devaluation. With those stocks depleted, new imports of milk powder, packaging and other inputs are arriving at higher exchange rates, lifting production costs and forcing price action. The move runs against the governments Price Reduction Initiative, rolled out with business federations to spur demand. Some retailers have cut shelf prices by more than 15, industry groups say, though margins in dairy remain thin. Egypt devalued the pound in March after sealing the 35 billion Ras El Hekma investment package, taking the official dollar rate close to EGP 50 from about EGP 31 and draining liquidity from a parallel market where the greenback had neared EGP 70. Even with price and mix tailwinds, profitability has sagged under inflation. First-half 2025 revenue rose to EGP 14.16 billion 291.5 million from EGP 11.47 billion 236.2 million a year earlier, but net income fell 47.2 to EGP 780.8 million 16.1 million on higher operating costs. Juhayna said the coming price adjustments are calibrated to protect market share while restoring margin. For Thabet, who built Juhayna into one of Egypts best-known consumer brands, the balancing act is familiar: pass through enough of the shock to stabilize earnings, but not so much that households trade down. The next few months will show whether gradualism can thread that needle in a still-fragile consumer market.