Egypt offers international tender to purchase 815K tons of wheat

CAIRO – 30 June 2022: The Egyptian General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) said on Wednesday that it had offered an international tender to purchase 815,000 tons of wheat that would be shipped over August, September and October 2022.

Four days ago, Egyptian Minister of Supply, Ali Moselhi, said that Egypt had contracted to buy 180,000 tons of wheat from India, which is less than what was previously agreed upon (500,000 tons).

He added that about 3.920 million tons of local wheat have been received from the farmers so far, with a rise between 11 percent and 12 percent compared to the last year.

The minister underlined that the current global food crisis pushed the wheat prices from $300-$320 per ton to $480-$490 per ton.

The Egyptian General Authority for Supply Commodities had contracted to purchase 465,000 tons of wheat from Russia, Romania and Bulgaria.

The authority said in a statement earlier in June that these quantities were divided as follows: 115,000 tons of Russian wheat to be shipped in the period from July 20-31, 2022; and 240,000 tons of Romanian wheat to be shipped from August 1-10, 2022.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved Tuesday a US$500 million loan to bolster Egypt’s efforts to ensure that poor and vulnerable households have uninterrupted access to bread, to strengthen Egypt’s resilience to food crises and to support reforms in food security policies.

The Russian Federation and Ukraine are the world’s largest wheat exporters, and the war has driven up prices and created nutritional shortfalls, particularly for people who rely on bread for their daily nutritional needs. Bread is an essential component of all meals in Egypt and this new project links wheat imports to direct assistance to the poor and vulnerable population through Egypt’s Bread Subsidy Program, according to the bank.

On May 18, the World Bank announced actions it plans to take as part of a comprehensive, global response to the ongoing food security crisis, with up to $30 billion in existing and new projects in areas such as agriculture, nutrition, social protection, water and irrigation. This financing will include efforts to encourage food and fertilizer production, enhance food systems, facilitate more trade, and support vulnerable households and producers.