Arab Finance: Excellent Ramadan With customs and dietary traditions that continued throughout the ages, and from them Yamish Ramadan Of nuts, moon of religion and raisins, some dried fruits, and some sweets that moved to Egyptian customs during the era of the Fatimid state.
Many Egyptian families are keen to buy these desserts, and dried foods during the month of Ramadan, but some families have a special budget before Ramadan to buy them, and to enjoy customs and traditions that lasted for decades.
Yamish Ramadan prices increase at a rate ranging from 15 to 25 %
This year is witnessing an increase in the prices of Yamish Ramadan at a rate ranging from 15 to 25% compared to last year, especially with high inflation rates and prices increase, as most of these products are imported from abroad.
For his part, Mohamed El -Sheikh, head of the perfumery division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, in exclusive statements to Arab Finance, appreciated the demand for Yamish Ramadan this year that it is from average for good due to the high prices, and the high inflation rates, pointing out that the prices increased at a rate ranging from 15 to 25% for some products from Yamish Ramadan compared to last year.
The sheikh explained that some Egyptian families are not considered to be Ramadan Ramadan, and some consider it supplementary in this month, especially nuts, because they are high in prices for families with limited income, while other families of high income families are keen to buy them in the month of Ramadan, explaining that the quantities imported this year are less than last year because importers had a expectation of weak demand and demand for it compared to every year.
The sheikh pointed out that the most popular products from Yamish Ramadan were raisins, coconut and Sudanese, while the turnout has declined some things for nuts such as almonds, an eye of sentences and pistachios.
He continued: Egypt imports some of the ingredients of Yamish from several origins, as it imports dried fruits such as apricots and pirates from Turkey and Argentina, and nuts such as hazelnuts, eye of camel, almond, pistachios and cashews are imported from Turkey, America and Vietnam, while raisins from Iran and coconut from Sri Lanka and the moon from Syria.
Dietary habits since the Fatimid era
For his part, Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, Professor of Islamic History at the Faculty of Arts, Beni Suef University, said in exclusive statements to Arab Finance that the word Yamish or the dry fruits is not an Egyptian word and the origin of the word is due to the Turkish language and equivalent to it in the Egyptian term the word “transport” where he was transmitted to Yamish from nuts, moon, raisins, coconuts, some dried fruits and other food Then one of the rituals of Ramadan.
Ibrahim added that Egypt was overseeing the Levant during that period and by virtue of its control over this country at this time, they came with these sweets and nuts, and they devoted it to the celebration in a place that was called at this time “Dar Al -Fitrah” where this place was considered a factory to prepare and produce all types of sweets, and this place is the place of the shrine of Imam Hussein, may God be pleased with him, currently.
The original celebration of sweets in Egypt
Ibrahim explained that the origin of the celebration of sweets in Egypt dates back to the era of the Caliph Al -Aziz in God in 365 AH, where the Fatimids expressed their interest in it through “Dar Al -Fitrah” to make sweets on Eid al -Fitr, as it was distributed free of charge to the Egyptian people, and it was considered tables for this purpose, and it was sending sweets to the homes of those who did not attend these tables.
The professor of Islamic history pointed out that some sweets that are currently celebrated, such as the Konafa, appeared during the Umayyad era during the era of Muawiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan, where it was made specifically for the first Umayyad caliph, and it was presented to him in Suhoor to help him tolerate fasting, as he was hungry during the day of Ramadan, so some doctors advised him to eat pastries in the form of threads, so the Konafa was then knew and spread after that in the Islamic world.
As for the harvesters, they have funny stories in history according to Abraham, as it means a velor word “small piece” and was stuffed with some types of nuts, and some were organizing competitions in them and putting dinars of gold, and it is given in the air on the contestants and whoever can capture the “velor” with his mouth wins the gold dinars inside.
The value of imports from Yamish Ramadan in 2024
According to the statements of the General Authority for Export and Import Control, Egypt's imports of Yamish Ramadan in 2024 recorded amounts exceeding 135 million dollars, as nuts and coconut topped the list of 124 million dollars, and dried apricots came second with a value of 3 million dollars, while the value of Qamar Al -Din amounted to 2.6 million dollars.
Poor, dried figs, and raisins recorded a value of $ 2.54 million, 2.2 million dollars, and 800 thousand dollars, respectively.
The main markets of cashews, coconuts included Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, while the main markets of other nuts included the United States, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Egypt's imports from Yamish also included dried fruits, such as apricots, plums, figs and grapes.
In 2024, dried apricot imports amounted to $ 3 million, most of them from Türkiye. Plum imports recorded $ 2.54 million, most of them from Argentina and Spain.
In 2024, Egypt imported dried figs worth $ 2.2 million from Türkiye and Syria. Moreover, raisins' imports amounted to $ 0.8 million, from Türkiye, the UAE, Syria and Iran.
Egypt has imported some famous drinks, including Qamar Al -Din and Al -Hindi.
The imports of producers in 2024 amounted to about $ 3.73 million, coming from Syria and India.
Egypt exports some Yamish Ramadan products, including dates, raisins, peanuts and hibiscus.
As the largest dates producer in the world, Egypt's production in the 2022/2023 season reached about 1.7 million tons.
In 2024, Egypt's exports of dates increased by 19.3% year on an annual basis to 105.61 million dollars. Morocco, Indonesia and Turkey were the largest market for Egyptian dates.
In 2024, Egypt issued Sudanese beans, raisins and hibiscus, with a value of $ 51 million, 15 million dollars and 15 million dollars, respectively.
Launching a new social package to support the groups affected by the high prices during the month of Ramadan
The government launched a new social package, to support the categories affected by the high prices, at a value of 200 billion pounds during the month of Ramadan and the new fiscal year, according to Dr. Mustafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister.
The new package includes raising the minimum wages of state employees to 7 thousand pounds per month, in addition to increasing pensions, cash support for beneficiaries of the Takaful and Dignity Program by 25%, and support for farmers and the most needy groups.
This package comes after Prime Minister Dr. Mustafa Madbouly pledged to launch it before the beginning of the month of Ramadan, indicating that the government will undertake exceptional measures during the holy month and Eid.
The government has estimated the cost of the social package during the next two months at about 40 billion pounds, while the increase in wages is only 85 billion pounds for the next fiscal year.
During the holy month of Ramadan, 300 pounds will be disbursed for each beneficiary of the Takaful and Dignity Program, who are currently 5.2 million families, according to Finance Minister Ahmed Kajuk.
The inflation rate in Egypt during the past month
The inflation rate in the cities of Egypt was slowly slowing after the rise in food prices, according to the data of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, as it reached 24% on an annual basis last month compared to 24.1% in December.
Food and beverage prices, the largest influence in the level of inflation, increased by 20.8% year on an annual basis last month, compared to 20.3% in December.
Related news
