Sugarcane Juice: Egypt’s Everyday Drink Buckles Under Rising Costs

The midday heat mingles with the sound of the sugarcane press, traffic and passing pedestrians. Farghali stands behind carefully stacked canes, feeding them one by one into a machine that has worked for decades.

He fills a glass with pale green juice and white foam, greeting passers-by with practised ease. “We have not raised the price of the juice, but every cane now carries a higher cost than before,” he tells Zawia3. His family has worked in the trade since the 1960s.

Today, a glass of sugarcane juice bears the weight of inflation across an old industry’s inputs: fuel, transport, labour, rent, electricity, water and other services.

The drink holds a special place in Egyptian life. An anthropological study cited in the report describes popular beliefs about summer refreshment, digestion and immunity. These cultural beliefs are distinct from demonstrated medical effects. anthropological study.

In lower-cost districts such as Bulaq El Dakrour, Ard El Lewa and Nahia, a glass now costs EGP 14–20. Shops have traditionally relied on high sales volumes with narrow margins. Zawia3’s field comparison puts the average at roughly EGP 3 in 2016, EGP 5 in 2020, EGP 7.5 in 2024 and EGP 11 in 2025; its 2026 graphic gives an average of EGP 17.

In established working-class neighbourhoods such as Abdeen, Abbasiya and Shubra, the reported average rose from EGP 4 in 2016 to EGP 6.5 in 2020, EGP 10 in 2024 and EGP 15 in 2025. In 2026 it reached approximately EGP 22.5, within a range of EGP 19–27.

In middle-income areas including Heliopolis, Maadi, Almaza, Sheraton and Manial, the report puts average prices at EGP 4.5 in 2016, EGP 7.5 in 2020, EGP 12 in 2024, EGP 18.5 in 2025 and EGP 28.5 in 2026. Current prices range from EGP 24 to EGP 34 depending on location and service. The associated graphic specifies Heliopolis, old Maadi and Sheraton as its surveyed areas.

In higher-cost districts such as Rehab, New Cairo’s Fifth Settlement and Sheikh Zayed, averages rose from EGP 5.5 in 2016 to EGP 9 in 2020, EGP 15 in 2024, EGP 25 in 2025 and EGP 40 in 2026. The current range is EGP 34–48.

An affordable drink under pressure

Sugarcane juice is one of Egypt’s familiar fresh drinks, particularly in summer. The academic literature cited by the report places it within everyday food habits and the culture of natural beverages.

Writing for Connect the Cultures, Sabina Lohr describes discovering sugarcane juice as part of Egyptian cultural identity. The report invokes a long cultural history rather than establishing a precise date for the drink’s origins. cultural account.

The trade has changed significantly as purchase and transport costs have risen, says shop owner Farghali Farghali. A decade ago, filling his store cost only a few hundred pounds; today it takes EGP 13,000–14,000, he says.

Prices have risen steadily since 2016, Farghali adds. Freight from Upper Egypt—known locally as nawloun—has become more expensive with fuel. A quantity he once obtained for about EGP 1,500 now costs roughly EGP 5,000 including the cane and transport.

Farmers’ Syndicate head Hussein Abu Saddam says rising cane prices for juice shops do not stem from declining planted area. He estimates cultivation at approximately 370,000 feddans and attributes stable acreage to rules restricting expansion beyond Upper Egypt because of water requirements. Other figures cited later in this report give different estimates and years; they are not interchangeable.

Cultivation is concentrated in Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan, Abu Saddam tells Zawia3. Expansion in Lower Egypt is restricted as part of water-conservation policy, while sugar beet can be grown on new land with lower water needs.

Cane remains in the ground across successive ratoon crops for about five years, he says. Farmers cannot easily switch crops because much of their cultivation expenditure is incurred in the first year.

The current juice-market price also reflects the season, Abu Saddam says. Limited harvesting before the main season means smaller available quantities and higher prices. Juice shops buy small volumes on the open market, unlike sugar factories contracting for large quantities during the delivery season.

A review cited by the Arabic report discusses possible antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and potential effects on liver, kidney, urinary, skin, dental and cardiovascular health, cholesterol and cancer-related processes. Those are research claims, not evidence that drinking sugarcane juice prevents or treats those conditions. The article also mentions consumption by some people with diabetes after medical consultation; natural sugar content does not by itself establish suitability for diabetes. review cited in the Arabic report.

Mohamed Hosni, who works at a juice shop on Maglis El Omma Street, says cane juice has long been associated with summer. Demand ultimately depends on taste, he says, adding that some customers with diabetes request small quantities after consulting their doctors.

Taste and quality vary through the agricultural season, Hosni explains. Sugar concentration rises in some months and falls in others. Strong demand from factories and juice shops sometimes leads traders to sell immature cane, which affects taste and disappoints customers expecting greater sweetness.

Fresh cane juice does not inherently require added sugar, Hosni says. Customers’ choices between it and sweeter-tasting juices reflect individual preferences.

Sugarcane juice and titanium dioxide

Controversy recently arose over titanium dioxide allegedly being used to whiten cane juice. The report cites seizures by authorities in Qalyubia and Assiut, and media descriptions of the substance as carcinogenic. A seizure or description alone does not demonstrate that every shop uses it.

Farghali Farghali says the substance is sold by herbalists, used in food industries and safe at prescribed levels. He puts its price above EGP 600 per kilogram and says it would add to shops’ costs. His statements about permission and safety are his own; they do not establish Egyptian regulatory approval or product safety.

Hosni says the controversy has directly reduced sales. Some customers hesitate, while shop staff try to reassure them and explain the product. He argues that the high price of disputed substances makes them unattractive to small shops.

Dr Mahmoud Ibrahim El Samman, a consultant on small and medium productive enterprises, says juice naturally changes colour after pressing because enzymes and phenolic compounds react with oxygen. This alone is not evidence of spoilage or lower quality.

Titanium dioxide has been used as a colour additive in food and pharmaceuticals, El Samman notes, but its food use has undergone scientific reassessment. The European Union removed its authorisation as a food additive in 2022 after EFSA could not rule out genotoxicity concerns. In contrast, the US FDA permits specified food uses subject to conditions, including a limit of 1% by weight. Different jurisdictions’ rules do not establish that adding it to a particular drink in Egypt is authorised. EFSA safety assessment; FDA conditions; EU regulation.

Colour cannot prove whether juice contains an additive, El Samman says. Cane quality, temperature and storage time also influence colour. Identifying an added substance requires specialised laboratory testing and regulatory standards rather than unsupported rumours.

Customers, sellers and farmers bear the cost

Bishoy Magdy, who works at a juice shop in El Matbaa, says sellers pass on only part of rising costs across farming, trade, transport and labour. “Whenever fuel prices rise, transport becomes more expensive, and juice prices follow, because profit margins are now extremely narrow.”

Commercial electricity and water bills and wages also weigh on shops, he tells Zawia3. Some barely cover their expenses, while winter’s lower sales push owners to borrow.

The report cites commercial electricity tariffs of 162 piastres per kilowatt-hour in the band covering consumption up to 100 kWh per month, and 279 piastres per kWh above 1,000 kWh. These are reported tariff-band figures, rather than a calculation of an individual shop’s bill. commercial electricity tariff.

One customer interviewed by Zawia3 says cane juice is no longer the inexpensive popular drink it once was. Taking the family out for juice has become a burden as purchasing power falls and essentials become more expensive.

For many households, necessities now come first. Spending on leisure or drinks outside the home has declined, the customer says.

Salama Awad, a worker at a Darb El Atrak shop, describes a marked summer decline in customers. Where the shop once received about 20 people an hour at peak times, it now sees around five, he says. Much of its trade depends on regular customers who know and trust it.

Price differences between areas reflect operating costs, especially rent, more than differences in the drink itself, Awad tells Zawia3.

Shops in working-class districts must hold prices within residents’ means. Higher-rent areas such as Heliopolis and New Cairo charge more. A glass may cost twice as much in one area as another without necessarily being better, he says.

The pressures surrounding cane cultivation

Agricultural engineer Omar Azab attributes higher cane-production costs chiefly to input prices, especially fertiliser that cooperatives no longer supply in sufficient quantities. Farmers must buy more expensive private-sector products.

Yield averages 40–50 tonnes per feddan, with cane selling for EGP 2,500–3,000 per tonne depending on quality and location, Azab tells Zawia3. Upper Egyptian cane commands higher value because its climate supports higher sugar content and crop quality.

Cooperatives do not meet farmers’ nitrogen-fertiliser requirements, he says. Where farmers once received most of their needs through cooperatives, they now buy commercial bags that can cost as much as five times the subsidised price.

Potassium fertilisers, important for cane size and sugar concentration, are not supplied by cooperatives, Azab adds. One application per feddan costs approximately EGP 3,000–4,000 for local products and up to EGP 6,000 for higher-quality types, with several applications needed during the season.

The current delivery price of EGP 2,500 per tonne can be worthwhile if farmers receive subsidised inputs, he says, but becomes less profitable when fertiliser and other inputs must be bought on the open market.

Farmers do not receive all of the increase in the retail juice price, Azab stresses. Trading, transport, distribution and margins add considerable costs before cane reaches the shop.

Abu Saddam puts annual sugar production from cane at around one million tonnes, against local sugar needs of approximately 3.2 million tonnes. Sugar beet and imports cover much of the difference, he says. The state seeks to expand beet production to improve self-sufficiency and reduce water pressure.

The government cut the season’s subsidised fertiliser allocation from 11 bags per feddan to five, Abu Saddam says, forcing farmers to buy the rest on the open market.

A subsidised bag costs approximately EGP 290 at the cooperative, against as much as EGP 1,200 on the market, he says. This squeezes growers’ margins.

The syndicate consequently seeks a delivery price of EGP 3,000 per tonne next season, compared with EGP 2,500 currently. Abu Saddam gives a yield range of 35–50 tonnes per feddan, depending on land quality and agricultural care.

A study cited by the report puts average cane yield in Upper Egypt at approximately 125 tonnes per hectare. A hectare equals about 2.38 Egyptian feddans—the Arabic text rounds this to about 2.5. Part of the crop is sold to juice shops.

Cane is harvested annually after approximately 12 months of growth, Abu Saddam says. He estimates water use at about 12,000 cubic metres per feddan per year and links this to restrictions on expansion outside Upper Egypt.

Another Egyptian study cited by the article reports planted area declining from approximately 326,500 feddans in 2006 to 303,000 in 2024, and yield from about 51 tonnes per feddan to 43.5. It gives total production of approximately 17 million tonnes in 2007 and 13.2 million in 2024, while cane sugar’s share of domestic sugar output fell from 68% to 29%. These figures differ from the CAPMAS-attributed 2024 graphic’s total of 14.252 million tonnes and 302,092 feddans; they are retained as separate source estimates. agricultural study.

A further study cited in the report gives water requirements of 15,000–23,000 cubic metres per feddan annually, temperatures of 27–37°C and average yield of approximately 48 tonnes per feddan. Its identified problems include fertiliser, rent and wage costs and shortages of workers. water and cultivation study.

Azab disputes the common description of cane as among the most water-consuming crops. Water needs change with growth stage, he says. Irrigation is gradually reduced near the end of the season to increase sugar concentration; excessive late irrigation lowers it.

He advocates modern irrigation such as centre pivots and drip systems. They can reduce water and fertiliser use and some pest and root-rot problems, improving quality and production costs despite higher installation expenses.

A study of 2020–2024 cited by the report gives an average net return of EGP 30,000 per feddan, with approximately EGP 61,000 revenue and EGP 31,000 costs. It estimates average water use at 10,300 cubic metres per feddan and water productivity of 7.57 kilograms per cubic metre under drip irrigation, compared with 4.43 under flood irrigation. The different water-use estimates in this article refer to different sources and assumptions. irrigation study.

Cairo University soil and water professor Nader Nour El Din warns of continuing decline in Upper Egyptian cane cultivation. He estimates a fall from approximately 330,000 feddans to 170,000. That estimate differs substantially from the acreage series quoted elsewhere and is not presented as the same official statistical series.

In a Facebook post, Nour El Din describes cane as especially suited to Upper Egypt’s hot climate. A decline could reduce year-round agricultural use of land and affect sugar factories and their workers, he argues. Nour El Din’s post.

Zawia3 attempted to contact Nour El Din without success. In the post, he estimates annual water requirements at 10,000–12,000 cubic metres per feddan for cane, against about 8,000 for beet over a shorter growing cycle, while claiming cane produces around two-and-a-half times as much sugar per feddan and differs in quality and taste.

Cane does not compete with strategic Delta crops, Nour El Din adds. It provides by-products including molasses, ethanol, acetone, vinegar, brown sugar and bagasse used as fuel and organic fertiliser.

He describes nitrogen-fertiliser allocations falling from 13 bags per feddan annually to five—a different starting allocation from Abu Saddam’s 11-bag comparison. He calls for policy grounded in scientific studies and specialist advice, balancing water management with the preservation of an important Upper Egyptian crop.

Farghali feeds another cane into the press and fills a glass for a customer escaping July’s heat. The taste has changed little, but the cost of bringing that glass to the counter has changed completely. From Upper Egyptian fields to a Cairo shop, the journey accumulates costs and increases. The drink still quenches ordinary people’s thirst, but it is no longer as affordable as they remember.