Sisi approves to import rice, orders to control prices

CAIRO – 9 July 2018: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi approved to import rice and to start its marketing for the coming Year, besides putting good prices for the crop in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture.

This came during the president's meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly and Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Mesalhy.

Sisi also ordered to control the markets and activate the system of price control, and consumer protection measures, and work to eliminate the phenomenon of monopoly and commercial fraud.

The meeting included reviewing the comprehensive strategic vision of the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade during the coming period and its programs and projects aimed at providing crops and commodities, developing the internal trade sector, providing social protection for the neediest groups, and controlling the markets.

The president also called for intensifying procedures to support and stimulating internal trade in Egypt, especially with commodities, and to explore opportunities for implementing programs in partnership with the private sector and food holding companies to establish commodity and trade chains with major international companies specialized in this field.

He further directed to support small and micro projects on concessional terms, especially those related to needy women in villages, in coordination with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, as well as supporting the establishment of permanent outlets for young graduates to provide them with more job opportunities and expand the mobile outlets of companies and complexes consumer.

On June 5, the government announced its plan to import rice (paddy, mulled and cargo rice), in a way to reduce the rice-cultivated areas due to the water shortage crisis the country is suffering from.

President Sisi ratified on May 21,the newly-passed amendments to the Agriculture Law No. 53 of 1966, per which the government will determine the areas to cultivate certain water-intensive crops such as rice and sugarcane, amid the water shortage crisis in order to rationalize water usage.

Also, Article 101 of the law stipulates that those who violate the ministerial decrees issued to implement Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Agriculture Law shall be punished with a fine not less than LE 20,000 (about $1,119) and not more than LE 50,000.

On May 2, the Egyptian government agreed to increase the area allocated for rice cultivation by 100,000 feddans (one feddan equals 1.038 acres) for this season only, bringing the total area allocated for rice cultivation to 820,000 feddans, Abdel Latif Khaled, head of irrigation sector in the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources stated.

Thus, it is expected that Egypt will produce about 3.3 million tons this year as one feddan produces 4 tons, while the Egyptians’ annual consumption of rice is estimated at 4.3 million tons.

However, the cultivated areas will be shrunk in the coming seasons as a result of water scarcity, given that one feddan of rice consumes 7,000 cubic meters of water.

Egypt needs at least 105 billion cubic meters of water annually to cover the needs of more than 90 million citizens. However, it currently has only 60 billion cubic meters, of which 55.5 billion cubic meters come from the Nile and less than 5 billion cubic meters come from non-renewable subterranean water in the desert. The remaining 80 billion cubic meters are covered by the reuse of wastewater.

The average per capita consumption of fresh water declined by 1.5 percent in 2015/2016 as it reached 103.4 cubic meters, compared to 105 cubic meters in 2015/2014, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) data.

A further decrease in Egypt's water resources is expected in light of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which could have a negative impact on Egypt’s Nile water share.

Egypt was the largest rice producer in the Near East region, according to the FAO data in 2004. In the period between 2015 and 2016, the country exported rice with a revenue of $58 million. However, rice export was banned in August 2016 to meet the local demand after shrinking the cultivated areas.