Egypt receives 63,000 tons of French wheat at Safaga port

CAIRO – 8 October 2022: Egypt received on Saturday a shipment of 63,000 tons of French wheat at Safaga port.

Authorities have taken measures to examine the shipment to ensure it complies with safety standards before it is released, an official statement read.

Early in September, a commercial ship carrying 31,400 metric tons of wheat was cleared to leave Ukraine to Egypt’s Damietta port.

Egypt, a top wheat importer requires about 18 million tons of wheat annually, which it imports from abroad and also collects from farmers.

The current Russia-Ukraine war has forced Egypt to find new sources for wheat imports given that the country used to get 80 percent of its imported wheat from both conflicting countries.

Egypt’s strategic stock of wheat and other food commodities is sufficient for at least 6 months, Minister of Supply Ali Moselhi said last month, as Egypt works on securing its commodities amid global food crisis.

Egypt’s local wheat supply season was also concluded in August after collecting 4.2 million tons from farmers this year, Moselhi said.

The wheat supplied locally to the state this year has reflected a great leap in the farmers’ response after the rise in wheat prices ratified by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi this year, Moselhi said.

The ministers also praised Sisi’s decision to increase incentives provided to farmers for supplying their wheat to the state.

Supply Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Kamal said the national project of silos implemented over the past years has enabled the state to store large quantities of wheat.

This comes after the new silos expanded the wheat storage capacity of the nation to 4 million tones instead of no more than 1.2 million tons before 2014.

The Egyptian Cabinet announced in a statement on Wednesday setting the country's initial wheat procurement price at LE 1,000 for the 2023 wheat harvest season.

The decision raises the wheat procurement price from LE 865-885 during the current wheat harvest season, which started in April.

In the statement, the Cabinet said the new initial price aims at encouraging farmers to cultivate wheat and supply the cultivated quantities to the state.