Last week witnessed an international tender to import wheat, aiming to increase the agricultural area cultivated with wheat to 7.5 million feddans in 2023, head of the Internal Trade Sector at the Ministry of Supply, Abdel Moneim Khalil, said.
Egypt’s strategic reserve of wheat covers up to seven months, Khalil said, pointing out that the recorded stock of wheat reserves is unprecedented.
Egypt is witnessing a big boom in the import of the wheat crop by about four million tons, Khalil added, in a telephone interview to the “Red Line” program, on al-Hadath satellite channel, on Thursday, pointing out that Egypt has received all the wheat shipments that were contracted on with Ukraine.
Egypt currently awaits a shipment of 63,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat, he said.
Three or four ports in Ukraine are ready to re-export grain shipments to countries around the world, including Egypt, Ahmed al-Attar, head of the Central Department of Agricultural Quarantine at Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture, said, on Wednesday.
Attar added, during a phone call to the Al-Hayat Al-Youm program, broadcast on Al-Hayat Channel, on Wednesday, that 200,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat have arrived in Egypt since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February.
Ukraine announced, Wednesday, the resumption of grain exports from its ports, after it was suspended due to the Russian military invasion.
Hungry for wheat
Egypt, the number one country importing wheat, has had its supply of what imports badly impacted since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Egypt contracted India to make up for the shortage.
The government stressed in March the regularity of the supply chain of imported wheat contracted from multiple origins, thus enhancing the strategic reserve of wheat.
According to the Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Aly al-Meselhy, Egypt imports wheat from Russia, Romania and France.
