Many in Egypt struggle as the costs of a distant war drive up prices in local markets

CAIRO (AP) — Sayyed Ragheb was already struggling to keep his family afloat, earning less than $100 a month. Now he fears it will get even worse after Egypt hiked fuel prices because of the Iran war.

The father of four school-age children works day-to-day in cafes and sometimes in construction. With prices of meat and produce jumping just the past week, he worries about meeting his family’s basic needs.

“This means a price increase for everything,” said Ragheb, as he served hot drinks at a cafe on a recent evening in Cairo. “This is catastrophic for someone like me.”

Egypt is one of the few countries in the Middle East not directly affected by the war, now in its third week with no sign of abating. It’s not part of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, and it hasn’t been targeted by Iranian missile and drone fire, like Arab Gulf nations, or by Israeli bombardment, like Lebanon.

But the nation of over 108 million people is feeling the conflict’s repercussions. Soaring energy prices forced the government to implement a steep hike in the prices of subsidized fuel and cooking gas.

That is having a domino effect on the prices of other goods and services in Egypt's struggling economy. Moreover, it comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when families traditionally hold large dinner gatherings, and ahead of the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a major shopping season when people buy new clothes, especially for children.

World energy prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. Iran retaliated by attacking oil and gas infrastructure across the Persian Gulf and effectively blocking traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's traded oil passes.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, soared from less than $70 a barrel on Feb. 27 to a peak of nearly $120 early March 9. It spiked to around $110 a barrel on Wednesday after Iran threatened to retaliate for an attack on an offshore gas field.

The rise in prices is particularly painful for Egypt because the government dedicates a large part of its already strained budget to subsidizing gasoline, fuel and electricity.

Energy prices aren’t its only vulnerability.

Traffic through the Suez Canal, a major source of government income, had started to recover after two years of attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen's Houthi rebels. Now some shipping companies are again routing traffic away from the Middle East because of the latest turmoil, and the government says it expects more losses.

Egypt, home to the ancient pyramids, also earns considerable foreign income from tourism. But arrivals are expected to plunge as travelers steer clear of the region.

If the conflict is prolonged and continues to drive up prices and reduce government revenues, the short-term economic pain could become a broader political and economic crisis, said Alexandra Blackman, an expert in Mideast politics at Cornell University.

“That will be more challenging for the regime to manage and control,” she said.

On March 10, the government announced a 15% hike in the price of gasoline, a 22% hike in cooking gas and a 17% hike in diesel, widely used in commercial and public transport.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi acknowledged the pressure on people but said the increases are “inevitable” and “the least expensive” option to protect the economy.

“The requirements of the reality sometimes necessitate taking difficult measures … to avert harsher options and more serious consequences,” he said over the weekend at an Iftar event, breaking the daily sunrise-to-sunset Ramadan fast.

He said Egypt’s consumption of oil products costs $20 billion annually, including fuel used to operate power plants.

The government imports 28% of its gasoline needs and 45% of its diesel needs, which puts pressure on the budget, said Petroleum Minister Karim Badawy.

The government announced a series of measures aimed at mitigating the impact, including reducing official overseas trips and tightening fuel consumption across the public sector. It also announced salary increases starting in July.

Egypt’s poor and middle class have already seen their purchasing power shrink over the past decade under government austerity measures. The measures included the slashing of subsidies and devaluation of Egypt’s currency as part of an ambitious reform program in 2016.

Inflation jumped from 10% in January to 11.5% in February of this year, according to official figures. The price increases are rippling across the economy in a country where a third of the population is below the poverty line, according to government statistics.

Since the new fuel prices took effect, the cost of meat has jumped 25% and fruit and vegetables rose 15-30%, according to merchants at three markets in Cairo.

Hussein Rashad, a grocer in a poorer district, said customers have become more selective, and most have reduced the amount of vegetables they buy. Some have stopped buying fruit altogether, he said.

“Many things have become out of their reach,” he said.

Ragheb, the cafe worker, said his family has tightened its budget, including resorting to the cheapest food staples. He won't be buying new clothes for his children for the upcoming Eid.

“One has no other option,” he said.

Vendors line up at a popular market in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

People buy vegetables at a popular market in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

A vendor carries second hand clothes at a popular market in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

A view of people and vehicles at a popular market in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

People and vehicles crowd at a popular market in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 18, 2026--

Spread The Love, a Los Angeles-based maker of organic nut butters, is expanding its global reach into the South Korean consumer market through Coupang, a U.S.-technology and Fortune 150 company that helps American companies export to more than 190 countries and regions around the world.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260318774278/en/

“We believe providing healthy, clean, natural food is one of the ways we show love to the people in our lives,” said Val Fishbain, co-founder and president, Spread The Love. “We’re so excited that now, thanks to Coupang, we can share ‘Spread The Love’ with new customers in South Korea and beyond.”

Exporting made easy

Coupang, a recent honoree on the LexisNexis Top 100 Global Innovators list for the second year in a row thanks to its cutting-edge technology and logistics support, helped facilitate more than $5 billion in U.S. sales and exports in 2025 alone.

U.S. sellers ship their products to one of Coupang’s U.S. fulfillment facilities, and the company’s logistics teams receive, store, pick, pack and ship directly to customers in Korea.

“We ship our products to Coupang’s fulfillment center in Riverside, California, and they handle the rest – all the logistics, export paperwork, processing of individual orders and deliveries to international customers,” said Zach Fishbain, Spread The Love co-founder and CEO. “That enables us to stay focused on what we do best – creating delicious, healthy products for our customers.”

From California — and America — to the world

Spread The Love is just one of many U.S. producers that work with Coupang to sell to customers in Asia. Others include POM Wonderful, also of Los Angeles, which produces pomegranate and other fruit products; and Dymatize, of Emeryville, Calif., ROKIT America, of Los Angeles, and SAN Nutrition, of Oxnard, Calif., all nutritional supplement producers.

Coupang offers numerous benefits to U.S. small businesses looking to expand into Asian markets. In South Korea, for example, Coupang counts about half of all adults as customers.

“Coupang is proud to help thousands of American small- and medium-sized businesses like Spread The Love sell their goods to customers around the world,” said Bill Anaya, vice president, Coupang. “We use our innovative, AI-driven export engine to enable great American entrepreneurs and founders — like Val and Zach — to 'spread the love' abroad, find new revenue, and focus on growing their local teams.”

“As a small business, we’re always looking for new markets and new customers,” said Zach Fishbain. “We always knew that to sustain long-term growth, we needed to figure out how to get our products into markets overseas. Coupang makes it so easy.”

About Coupang

Coupang is a technology and Fortune 150 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CPNG) that provides retail, restaurant delivery, video streaming and fintech services to customers around the world under the brands that include Coupang, Eats, Play, Rocket Now and FarFetch.

About Spread The Love

Founded in 2013 in Los Angeles, Spread The Love is a certified woman- and minority-owned business specializing in organic, clean-label nut butters. Spread The Love makes a wide range of nut butter products for customers all over the world, including butters from peanuts, almonds, cashews and hazelnuts, in smooth, crunchy and flavored varieties.

As a U.S. tech company and one of the fastest-growing online retailers in the world, Coupang is uniquely positioned to help small and medium-sized American businesses reach new customers in Asia.

“We believe providing healthy, clean, natural food is one of the ways we show love to the people in our lives,” said Val Fishbain, co-founder and president.