(Bloomberg) -- Egyptian livestock farmers are culling chicks amid a shortage of feed imports, as soaring costs exacerbate a historic food crisis. 

About 1.5 million tons of corn and 500,000 tons of soybeans -- the main components in chicken feed -- are stuck at ports, Mohamed El-Shafei, vice chairman of the Poultry Producers Union said in a televised interview on Saturday. The goods are waiting for government-required letters of credit from importers so that they can be released. 

Releasing the commodities would cost $340 million a month, El-Shafei said, adding that the lack of available food is forcing farmers to kill their chicks. Social media channels circulated videos of farmers having to destroy their livestock, with local reports putting the numbers of birds in the thousands. 

Chicken is the most commonly consumed meat in Egypt, and the feed shortfall is already reflected in higher prices for eggs and poultry. 

The situation in Egypt is an example of the ripple effects of extreme inflation and efforts to stop it. Russia’s war in Ukraine has significantly curbed grain supplies from the Black Sea region, leading to higher prices. Meanwhile, central banks -- notably the US Federal Reserve -- are dramatically hiking interest rates to halt the price surge, but Fed action is also behind the dollar’s recent strength.  

That’s had an outsized effect on countries that rely on food imports, as they’re grappling with a destructive combination of high interest rates, a soaring dollar and high commodity prices, eroding their power to pay for goods that are typically priced in the greenback. Dwindling foreign-currency reserves in many cases have reduced access to dollars, and banks are slow in releasing payments.

Also see: Soaring Dollar Keeps Food Stuck in Ports as World Hunger Grows

Disruptions to imports have sent prices in Egypt soaring, squeezing a population already struggling to recover from the fallout of the pandemic. 

To ease demand for dollars, the government took an approach that critics say has contributed to supply gaps for some products. In February, authorities began to require importers to secure a letter of credit from their banks to be able to buy goods abroad. The new procedure was more complex than before, raising costs and causing delays for businesses.

Global Crisis

The poultry-feed shortage is the result of the “negative repercussions of the global crisis, which affected many other goods and products,” Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Sunday, according to state-run news agency MENA. “No one knows how long this current war will last.” 

The government is working to ease both the shortfall and the impact of the broader crisis, he added. 

Also see: Currency Cure by Stealth Has Egypt Sweating It Out Months Later

Officials are seeking to provide hard currency according to priority, especially those related to food, fuel and production requirements, including feed. About 122,000 tons of soybeans were cleared from ports at a value of $85 million, the cabinet said in a statement Sunday.

The central bank has also taken some measures to ease foreign-currency restrictions in an attempt to clear the backlog of imports. 

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