The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) said on Tuesday it has signed contracts through an international tender for the purchase of 420,000 tons of wheat, with 240,000 tons coming from Romania and another 180,000 tons from Russia.
A source with GASC said the tender for this purchase was announced on 24 October, in order to produce subsidized bread.
The source added that GASC depends on multiple sources for the import of wheat allocated for subsidized bread, ensuring the highest quality wheat at the best price.
On September, Egypt backed down from its zero-tolerance policy on the presence of ergot fungus in imported wheat shipments.
The policy had been adopted and abandoned several times in the past year, resulting in the rejection of several wheat shipments from Russia due to contamination by the common grain fungus ergot, which can be harmful to human health in large quantities but is normally deemed harmless at trace levels.
Egypt imports 11 million tons of wheat annually, 5 million of which are imported by governmental bodies and 6 million by the private sector, according to official data.
