Monday 23/March/2026 – 01:41 PM
The Egyptian billionaire lost Nassef Sawiris The second richest man in Egypt, about one billion dollars this March alone, equivalent to 61 billion pounds, affected by losses in the fertilizer sector and the decline in the shares of his company OCI, listed on the Netherlands Stock Exchange.
Nassef Sawiris’ losses due to the Iran war
Wealth tracking data seen by Cairo 24 showed that the wealth of Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris fell from the level of $9.96 billion in the first days of the Iran war, to the level of $8.78 billion today, Monday, March 23, 2026.
At this level, Nassef Sawiris’ losses during the Iranian war amounted to about 1.18 billion dollars, equivalent to 61.8 billion pounds, according to the exchange rate of the pound against the dollar as of today, according to Bloomberg indicators.
The shareholding of OCI Company, listed on the Netherlands Stock Exchange, declined by about 14% this month, of which Nassif owns about 40% of the shares, due to the global fertilizer crisis resulting from the Iran war.
Closing the Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted about a third of the world’s seaborne fertilizer trade, including nearly half of global urea exports.
Within a week of the outbreak of the conflict, Qatar suspended the production and shipment of liquefied natural gas and urea, and fertilizer prices rose by 27%, reaching 57%, compared to the same period last year.
The global fertilizer crisis has worsened with China restricting its exports to give priority to the domestic market until August 2026, and Russia imposing export quotas.
Within a week of the outbreak of the US-Iran military conflict, urea prices rose by 27%, and rose by 57% compared to the same period last year.
OCI is making huge losses
On a trailing twelve-month basis, OCI reported revenue of approximately $1.0 billion and a net income loss excluding ancillary items of $340.7 million, indicating a business that is generating sales but has yet to cover its costs, according to company data cited by simplywall.
Basic EPS on an extended basis averaged a loss of $1.61, compared to an optimistic EPS forecast of $0.22 around 2028.
Over the past five years, OCI’s losses have grown at an annual rate of 33.4%, and the company remains unprofitable on a trailing twelve-month basis, which is consistent with concerns about the reliability of any future profitability path.
