Egypt’s wheat imports rise to 11M tons in 2023

Updated 1/8/2024 7:32:00 AM

Arab Finance: Egypt has raised its wheat imports to 11 million tons in 2023, compared to 9.6 million tons in 2022, Deputy Minister of Supply and Internal Trade and Chairman of the Internal Trade Development Authority (ITDA) Ibrahim Ashmawy told Asharq Business.

On the sidelines of the inauguration of the first phase of the commercial logistics zone project in Beheira, Ashmawy added that Egypt imported more than 80% of the wheat in 2023 via the Black Sea, aiming to diversify its origins in 2024.

Egypt’s wheat harvest season begins in mid-April and ends by mid-July of 2024.

He also revealed that Egypt provided 240,000 tons of sugar from its strategic reserves last December, which significantly contributed to reducing prices and ending the sugar crisis.

For his part, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali El-Moselhy said that traders would be obliged to display the prices on strategic commodities as of next March.

In case of non-compliance, the trader will be warned, the minister said, adding that if the violation is repeated, the violators’ products will be confiscated.

In December, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly declared seven essential commodities, namely mixed oil, broad beans, rice, milk, sugar, pasta, and white cheese, as strategic products in the implementation of Consumer Protection Law No. 181 of 2018.

In addition, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation El-Sayed El-Quseir revealed that the area of cultivated wheat during the current growing season, which began in November 2023 and will last until January 2024, has so far reached 3.062 million feddans, an increase of about 500,000 feddans over the previous season.