It seems that Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour’s decision last April to halt imported Ramadan lanterns to save the Egyptian industry has failed and stores are still selling imported lanterns. This year’s import bill has hit close to US$5bn, with China getting the lion’s share, according to a statement released by the General Section of Children’s Toys at the Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
This year’s lantern designs have changed little from previous years, with cartoon characters featured in famous international movies still in fashion and in high demand as children want to own the characters they see on TV. Children do not much care for the old-fashioned, classical design, according to Muhammad Salem, a lantern vendor. He says most children prefer SpongeBob, Spiderman, Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear and the Inspector Korombo character, which have been famous for a while now. Lanterns are a commodity for children and therefore prices go up according to demand, he explains.
Some lanterns have so lost their features that only the Ramadan song recorded inside the toy shows that it is a lantern. These singing lanterns are the most expensive on the market, but plastic lanterns with lamps inside are also popular as people buy them to decorate their homes or stores.
The price of lanterns is rising day by day, with one lantern that hit the market at LE35 now selling for LE45. A lantern in the shape of President Sisi is on sale in some places, while prices of large, traditional metal lanterns start LE65 and go up to more than LE120, according to size.
