Egypt contemplates supplying 1.5M tons of local rice on ration cards

CAIRO – 31 August 2022: Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Moselhy stated Wednesday that the government targets to procure 1.5 million tons of local rice so it would supply it on ration cards in the remaining months of the current year.

Minister Moselhy said, however, that only one percent of that target has been obtained, mainly from Kafr El Sheikh governorate, and that he expected a spike in the flow starting September 15.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) declared in 2021 that Egypt's production of rice amounted to 4.8 million tons per annum, and that constitutes 79 percent of its total consumption (on and off ration cards). The average share per capita is now 39 kilograms per annum.

That is less than the figures of 2020, where CAPMAS indicated that self-sufficiency of rice reached 98.3 percent, with an average share per capita hitting 29.6 kg compared to 26.7 kg in 2019, with an increase of 10.9 percent. Normally, the rice harvest season begins in July.