The Egyptian government has started mixing a new stock of local wheat with the imported quantity to produce subsidized bread. The mix is 70 percent imported wheat and 30 percent local.
Al-Masry Al-Youm has learned that the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit continues to encourage the consumption of the entire stock before autumn and winter, when rains can damage the wheat due to poor conditions of the granaries.
A government source said that, despite the high cost of importing wheat, the quantity acquired from local farmers and traders did not exceed 2,140,000 tons. Last winter’s heat wave, according to the government source, negatively affected the crop.
The same source unveiled that the Ministry for Social Solidarity has intensified inspections of wheat granaries and stores. The aim is to keep the stock safe as long as possible. The quantity is usually enough for a minimum of four months.
A source in the wheat milling sector said that the biggest mill in the Middle East is being installed in the industrial zone of Gamasa, Daqahlia, with a production capacity of 600 tons per day.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
