Despite Egypt's wheat self-sufficiency plan, imports increase
Egypt is importing unprecedented quantities of wheat, despite a recent expansion in cultivated lands and wheat cultivation, raising doubts about the feasibility of the government's plans to achieve wheat self-sufficiency.
CAIRO — The spokesman of Egypt's Ministry of Supply, Mamdouh Ramadan, in an attempt to reassure citizens, told Reuters Aug. 22, “Egypt’s wheat reserves are sufficient to cover the country’s needs until the end of February 2018.”
On the same day, Mohammed Suwaid, the media adviser of the Ministry of Supply, said during a talk show on satellite channel ONTVLive, “The reserves are safe and exceed the global limit.”
However, it seems that the officials boasted about the wheat reserves in an attempt to reassure Egyptians, without addressing the price paid to obtain these strategic reserves. Indeed, the Ministry of Supply procured record quantities of imported wheat in July, which by the end of the month reached about 1.245 million tons supplied to Egypt through four tenders.
On Aug. 17, Ramadan announced in a press statement that the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) affiliated with the Ministry of Supply signed a contract through a state tender to purchase 355,000 tons of Russian and Ukrainian wheat, bringing the total wheat imports to 1.6 million tons.
