Cairo- Mubasher: Egypt’s minister of supply Ali Meselhy said that Egypt aims to import 7 billion tonnes of wheat in fiscal year 2017/2018, Reuters reported citing Mamdouh Ramadan, the spokesman for the Ministry of Supply, as saying.
The general budget includes importing 6.2 million tonnes of wheat from abroad, Meselhy added, indicating that the ministry will import 7 million tonnes of wheat to save 1 million tonnes of reserve before the wheat harvest season.
Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, consumes about 15 million tonnes of wheat annually, according to governmental statements.
The country's strategic reserve of wheat reached 5.092 million tonnes, which is sufficient to meet consumers’ needs until the second week of February 2018, Ramadan said.
Egypt contracted unprecedented quantities of wheat in less than a month, equivalent to 20% of the target for the FY17/18, amid lower domestic supply.
Egypt's wheat imports reached 5.580 million tonnes in FY16/17, compared to 4.440 million tonnes in the previous year, he highlighted.
