Ministry of Supply receives wheat from farmers at LE 600/Irdabb

CAIRO – 15 April 2018: Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade will start receiving the local wheat crop from farmers starting Sunday, April 15, at LE 600 per Irdabb for 23.5 degrees of purity, LE 585 per Irdabb for 23 degrees of purity, and LE 570 per Irdabb for 22.5 degrees of purity.

The ministry announced earlier that it intends to buy more than 4 million tons of locally-produced wheat this year.

Minister of Supply Ali al- Moselhi affirmed that the new regulations for wheat’s purchase from farmers prohibit the private sector to market for wheat and prohibit storing it in the privately owned silos until all public-owned areas have been expropriated.

Government agencies are the marketers of wheat and operate on these silos through their employees as the ministry put around 10 strict conditions when leasing private silos to store the wheat.

Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, is expected to receive about 4 million tons from farmers this year.

On the other hand, The Egyptian government expects to import around 7 million tons in 2018.

Moselhi told a local newspaper at the beginning of April that Egypt will issue new tenders to import three shipments of quantities between 180,000 and 200,000 tons; the first shipment will be imported before the end of April.

Egypt consumes 9.6 million tons of wheat per year to produce subsidized bread.
According to official statements issued in March, Egypt's strategic wheat reserves are sufficient for 3.2 months.

In 2017, the government bought 3.6 million tons of local wheat after it pegged its purchase price to international wheat prices for the first time, eliminating a subsidy that had led to large amounts of wheat being smuggled from abroad.

Generally, the wheat harvest runs from mid-April to July.

(One Irdaab of Wheat = 150 Kilograms)