Egyptian gov’t increases local wheat procurement price to LE 1250 per ardeb

CAIRO – 18 January 2023: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli announced on Wednesday increasing the local wheat procurement price to LE 1,250 per ardeb during the upcoming harvest season up from LE 1,000, the guide price set by the government last year.

In a presser following the Cabinet weekly meeting on Wednesday, Madbouli said the current price includes LE 250 as incentives to farmers per each ardeb, a Middle Eastern unit of volume that is equal to around 150 kg.

This is a rewarding price compared to the price of wheat ardeb last year, which totaled LE 880, Madbouli added.

Madbouli affirmed that the government will continue to provide subsidized fertilizers to farmers.

Late in August following the end of the harvest season last year, the Cabinet announced setting the country's initial wheat procurement price at LE 1,000 for the 2023 wheat harvest season.

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

The state has been encouraging farmers to sell wheat to the government to meet the local needs amid a global disruption in food supply chains.

Last year, Egypt managed to procure 4.2 million tons of wheat, said Minister of Supply Ali Moselhi in August. This comes while Egypt has targeted to collect between 5 to 5.5 million tons of local wheat from farmers during this wheat season.

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 the two conflicting countries.