Hany Aman, the Managing Director of Eastern Company, revealed that his company is ready to transfer all production capacities from its factories to the industrial complex in Sixth of October City within a period of up to two years.
Aman told Daily News Egypt that the company inaugurated the industrial complex with the primary aim of integrating all its production capacity, pointing out that the transfer process requires obtaining several approvals from the Ministry of Environment and the Industrial Development Authority.
He also explained that the transfer of the Moharram Bey factory came after an economic feasibility study, especially since the factory’s licence was about to expire, in addition to its need for further development, so the company saw that transferring production capacity was the best option instead of increasing the investment cost.
In a related context, the board also approved the new prices for the consumer sale price of the company’s cigarette products.
The company explained that the price of Box 10 was raised to EGP 11.5, Cleopatra King Size to EGP 18.5, Cleopatra Soft Queen to EGP 19, and Boston/Belmont to EGP 19.5.
The company also raised the price of Cleopatra Box (White and colours) to EGP 20, Cleopatra Super to EGP 21, Mondial to EGP 21, Mondial Switch to EGP 24, Cleopatra Black to EGP 24, and Tossian Super to EGP 24,
Aman said that the reason behind the rise in prices is due to the high cost of raw materials in addition to the four-fold increase in freight prices caused by the disruption of supply chains around the world.
He explained that the process of finding a container to transport goods has become very difficult, which in turn affected the high cost of production, explaining that the company seeks to strike a balance between maintaining the profit margin and the interest of the final consumer.
Furthermore, he added that the company periodically studies the prices of all its products and is currently studying the prices of cigars and molasses, explaining that the volume of cigarette sales during the last month recorded about 5.5bn cigarettes.
The profits of the Eastern Company increased by 15% during the first half of FY 2021/22, reaching EGP 2.92bn, compared to a net profit of EGP 2.54bn last year.
The company’s revenues also grew during the period to EGP 8.53bn, up from last year’s EGP 8.16bn.
