Meanwhile, Kabil comes across as the voice of reason in a government determined to continue raiding factories to seize their sugar supply. These raids, which included confectionary maker Edita Food Industries and Pepsico, have now expanded to factories in Alexandria, prompting the food industries division of the FEI to call for an emergency meeting on Wednesday. The Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce have also called a meeting with the Prime Minister to lobby to end the crackdown, something the PM called “necessary” and “limited” during his interview with Lamees last night.

A supply ministry official told Reuters that 2k tonnes of sugar were confiscated after Edita was unable to show original invoices, but Edita said it had produced all required documents and denied hoarding. “2k tonnes, which is three weeks of sugar for the company. This is a normal amount,” said Investor Relations and Business Development Manager Menna Shams El Din. “There is no doubt this sugar was obtained on the private sector and not from subsidised sugar.” Edita has four factories in Egypt including its Beni Suef plant, where production of hard and soft candies accounts for about 4% of its turnover. Edita detailed the incident in a statement to the EGX.

Confiscated sugar is being stored at the Food Industries Holding Company’s facilities, then sold through the Supply Ministry’s outlets, a government source told the newspaper.