The Egyptian Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, issued a decision on December 30, 2023, declaring seven goods as strategic products. The goods are:

• Vegetable oil
• Beans
• Rice
• Milk
• Sugar
• Pasta
• White cheese

The decision was issued to ensure the availability of these essential goods to citizens and to prevent their hoarding or withholding from circulation.

Article 8 of the Consumer Protection Law states that "it is prohibited to withhold goods and products from circulation, whether by hiding them, not offering them for sale, refusing to sell them, or in any other way."

According to the decision, anyone who violates its provisions will be subject to the penalties stipulated in Article 71 of the Consumer Protection Law, which can be up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million Egyptian pounds.

The Prime Minister also issued Decision No. 4585 of 2023 to form a permanent technical secretariat for the committee, which was recently formed under the chairmanship of the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and is concerned with studying mechanisms for regulating markets and commodity prices. The secretariat is headed by the Information and Decision Support Center at the Prime Minister's Office.

The technical secretariat aims to:

• Monitor availability and quantities of production, consumption, and imports on a regular basis.
• Develop a comprehensive system for monitoring pricing procedures and controls.
• Develop measurement indicators to verify the stability of the fair price for the consumer.
• Digitize all commodity trading and sales processes through an updated system, starting from the production process to the sale to the consumer.

These decisions are aimed at achieving stability in the prices of basic commodities and ensuring their availability to citizens at fair prices.