Gulf capital and Egypt's corporate food system: a region in the third food regime

ABSTRACT

How can we define the emergence of new spaces in the global corporate food system? This article argues that regions in food regime theory have been overlooked, both geographically and socially. As an example of the significance of the regional level, it examines the case of the relationship between Egypt and the Gulf states. In addition to Western capital, Egypt's corporate food system has been determined by regional capital from the Gulf. Gulf investment is one of the largest foreign capitals in Egypt's agribusiness sector and it owns companies that have controlling market shares of corporate food. It will argue that this has been concomitant with the political power of a class hierarchy that extends from Egypt into the Gulf Cooperation Council states.

RÉSUMÉ

Comment définir l’émergence de nouveaux espaces dans le système alimentaire agro-industriel mondial ? Cet article soutient que dans la théorie des régimes alimentaires des régions ont été négligées, tant géographiquement que socialement. A titre d’exemple de l’importance du niveau régional, l’article examine le cas de la relation entre l’Egypte et les Etats du Golfe. Outre le capital occidental, le système alimentaire agro-industriel de l’Egypte a été déterminé par le capital régional provenant du Golfe. Les investissements du Golfe forment l’un des plus larges capitaux étrangers au sein du secteur agro-industriel de l’Egypte, et les pays du Golfe possèdent des sociétés qui contrôlent des parts de marché de l’agro-industrie. L’article soutient que ceci a été concomitant au pouvoir politique d’une hiérarchie de classe qui s’étend de l’Egypte jusque dans les états membres du Conseil de coopération du Golfe.

KEYWORDS:

• Egypt
• Gulf
• corporate food system
• food regimes
• regionalisation

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Egypte
• Golfe
• système alimentaire agro-industriel
• régimes alimentaires
• régionalisation

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Adam Hanieh and Dr Hannes Baumann for their comments on earlier drafts of this article as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Christian Henderson is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.

Notes

1 This article considers 1991 to be the start of the neoliberal period in Egypt, due to the agreement of that year between the Egyptian government and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Although market liberalisation began in the 1970s and continued through the 1980s, the 1991 agreement marked the start of a more explicit intervention into the economy by international financial institutions.

2 Interview with agribusiness manager, Cairo, 20 November 2013.

3 Interview with agribusiness manager, Cairo, 7 May 2014.

4 Interview with supermarket manager, Cairo, 19 November 2013.