Hussein Gaber El-Shammaa (54 years old) inherited the profession of candle making from his family, becoming the owner of the oldest candle manufacturing workshop in Cairo. His great-grandfather established the manufacturing workshop in the Al-Darb Al-Ahmar area of Cairo in the 1960s, and it is still operating to this day.
He tells Zawia3: “My great-grandfather started working in this field through a small workshop, and over time, our business flourished, allowing us to open other workshops around the area. We purchase paraffin wax from suppliers and shape it.”
Paraffin wax, a petroleum derivative, is a basic element in candle manufacturing in Egypt. Manufacturers obtain it through contracts with petroleum companies, and the raw materials reach the factory after undergoing purification processes to remove hydrocarbons.
Manufacturers face significant challenges due to rising prices of essential production inputs, especially raw paraffin wax, since the beginning of 2021. The price increased by ten thousand pounds per ton, reaching 45 thousand pounds per ton in March of the same year, while imported raw materials recorded about 100 thousand pounds per ton. According to government statistics, Egypt’s exports of raw paraffin wax declined to 23.9 million dollars in 2021, compared to 110.4 million dollars in 2020.
Despite modern mechanization and its spread, “El-Shammaa” believes that manual work cannot be dispensed with. He says, “The machine may stop due to power outages; hence, we resort to manual work in molds and stencils.”
Hussein was unaffected by the environmentally friendly candles that some have mastered today. He manufactures his candles with the scent of lavender or vanilla, according to customer requests. He says, “I mix perfumes with raw wax during manufacturing.”
However, the industry faces some complexities, as Hussein describes, including the unavailability of paraffin wax manufactured from petroleum derivatives by the supplier, represented by the Cooperative Society for Petroleum (Cooperation Petroleum Company, one of the public sector companies). They supply manufacturers with incomplete quotas ranging from 35% to 50%. The crisis began about a year ago, pushing them to resort to the black market to procure it. He calls for the provision of raw materials to them, as their customers include churches, mosques, and tourists who buy their products.
“El-Shammaa” has been affected by the load shedding plan and has become keen on adding solidifying materials in large quantities to prevent his candles from melting, which increased their production costs. According to his description, ordinary citizens are increasingly buying candles, especially in light of daily power outages lasting between three to six hours.
The Candle Agency in Al-Ghuriya, Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, Cairo, is a school for teaching the craft of candle making, dating back to 1796. Despite the spread of candle shops, Hussein continues to make them, especially since some old workshops did not pass the craft to their children as Hussein did, following his father’s approach by teaching the craft to his children to continue the journey after him.
Mohamed Al-Husseini, the owner of a candle factory in Alexandria, has been working in this field for over 30 years. He insists on manufacturing from locally made raw materials that he used to buy from the Amreya Petroleum Refining Company (a subsidiary of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation). However, he complained about the reduction of his quota of paraffin wax since 2022, coinciding with the foreign currency shortage crisis, which affected his production volume. He says, “I had to buy my raw materials from AMOC (Alexandria Mineral Oils Company), which provides them but at much higher prices than its competitors due to relying on imported raw materials.”
According to the Export Development Authority, the top five countries to which Egypt exported its paraffin wax production during 2022 are Germany, Italy, South Africa, Nigeria, and Tel Aviv. Egypt’s total exports to Germany amounted to $7,473,000, while exports to Italy amounted to $1,204,371. Egypt’s total exports of paraffin wax during the same year amounted to $11,800,000, concentrated during January and February only.
Supply Shortages Chase Factories
Thirty-nine years ago, the Nofal family started working in candle manufacturing. Over the years, they developed their industry by adding soy and honey wax to give their products aromatic scents, but paraffin remained the basis of their production.
Al-Sharqiya Factory, owned by the family, sources its raw materials from government companies (Amreya Petroleum Refining Company and Alexandria Mineral Oils AMOC). According to Ahmed El-Khamisi, the factory owner, the crisis of reducing their raw material quotas began in 2020, in addition to the increase in paraffin prices from 500 to 2350 pounds during the period from January 2020 to June 2024.
He says, “This pushed me to stop buying from the Amreya Petroleum Refining Company this year after reducing our quota from 2.5 tons to only half a ton, under the pretext of filter cleaning or exporting.”
Al-Sharqiya Factory exports its production to European countries and Arab countries, in addition to supplying about 40% of its production to the local market. It also participated in some historical works last Ramadan, such as “The Hashashin and Gouda.”
Zawia3 contacted Hamdi Abdel Aziz, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Petroleum, and we also messaged him via WhatsApp, but we did not receive a response from him by the time of publishing the report. We also contacted the Amreya Petroleum Refining Company to find out the reasons for reducing the quotas of candle factories from paraffin wax recently, but its officials refused to comment.
Egypt’s Paraffin Exports Decline
Egypt’s annual exports of paraffin wax during the period from 2012 to 2022 amounted to approximately $397.1 million. The highest percentage of paraffin wax exports was recorded in 2016, totaling $69.1 million, achieving a growth rate of 80.9%. However, exports declined in 2022 to $11.9 million, with a negative growth rate of -80.9%.
The owners of Al-Radawi Factory in Dakahlia began candle manufacturing 23 years ago. They did not rely on old manufacturing methods and introduced new types of fragrances such as “soy and palm” mixed with paraffin. Mahmoud Mansour, the factory manager, tells us: “Our quota was reduced by about 30% six months ago, forcing us to work with our reserve stock. Coinciding with the load shedding plan, the demand for candles increased by about 25%, prompting companies to adhere to delivering our quotas of raw materials.”
Environmentally Friendly Candles
Environmentally friendly candles are a new type that has spread in recent years, made from non-petroleum raw materials to avoid impacting the manufacturer and user. They do not produce health hazards and are made from expensive materials such as “soy, honey, gel, and palm.” They are characterized by a high number of burning hours, no emission of toxic fumes, and no harm to the environment.
Some Egyptian women have mastered making them from their homes, turning their homes into manufacturing workshops and successfully exporting them abroad. Among them is Rana Ahmed (34 years old) from Giza Governorate, who mastered candle making starting in 2020, driven by her love for candles and perfumes, learning the craft through online educational videos and starting her project after her designs impressed her friends.
She says: “I started my business by making paraffin candles, then moved on to making environmentally friendly scented candles from soy, gel, and beeswax since 2021. I import my raw materials from Saudi Arabia due to their unavailability in Egypt.”
Ahmed faced obstacles like other workers in the scented candle manufacturing field, mainly the difficulty of importing raw materials from abroad. She adds: “Finding a shipping company to deliver raw materials from abroad to manufacturers is not easy, in addition to the rising prices of raw materials over the past year, pushing us to raise our selling price by 50%. The candle price starts at 250 pounds and varies depending on weight and the type of fragrance used, leading to a 50% drop in sales, matching the inflation rate.” According to Rana, beeswax candles are flexible and easy to shape, while soy candles are the most commonly used.
Asmaa Ahmed (25 years old) from Qalyubia Governorate also ventured into making scented candles in October 2023. Despite mastering soy molds, she stopped using them in recent months. She says, “I had to stop using them months ago due to their unavailability in Egypt, and I cannot afford to import them from Saudi Arabia or the USA, pushing me to resort to palm wax.” According to her, the young woman received manufacturing orders from outside Egypt.
A report published by The Guardian revealed that candles and air fresheners emit more than 100 different chemicals, including “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs). These airborne substances include a wide range of organic compounds such as “limonene” (lemon scent), “alpha-pinene” (pine trees scent), “beta-pinene,” and solvents like “ethanol,” “formaldehyde,” “benzene,” “toluene,” and “xylene,” among others. These VOCs react with ozone and other indoor oxidants to generate a range of “oxidation products” containing toxic particles, often affecting human health.
Atef Wahdan, an associate professor in the field of respiratory diseases at Al-Azhar University, mentions that essential oils are used in candle making to avoid the negatives of synthetic fragrances, but they also pose health risks.
He tells Zawia3: “Paraffin wax is harmful to human health as it causes chest allergies and lung fibrosis. Soy and beeswax are less dangerous.”
To avoid the dangers of candle smoke, Wahdan advises regularly trimming the candle wick to reduce the amount of smoke released, using candles in well-ventilated areas, extinguishing candles before leaving the room or before sleeping, and keeping candles away from flammable materials and out of children’s reach.
Candle factory owners, workshop owners, and independent candle makers strive to develop their industries. Still, they face increasing challenges, from raw material shortages to rising prices and inflation, leaving them hoping for a change before their industry collapses.
