Changes in Egypt’s wheat procurement system make it difficult to track the main segment of the global grain trade

Egypt used to hold non-public tenders, but traders had information on offers and sales, which gave an idea of the sector, where physical business is conducted mostly privately. But in recent months, after the change of the procurement agency, such information has become unavailable. Now traders cannot determine the volumes, prices, and origin of grain sold by competitors.

In early December, GASC announced that the procurement would be handled by the Sustainable Development Agency Mostakbal Misr, established by presidential decree in 2020, which is still unknown in the wheat market. It has already signed direct supply agreements, but it is not yet known whether tenders will be held and how often.

The work of the new agency raises many questions among traders, in particular, about its ability to provide the required volumes of wheat, given the lack of experience of cooperation with exporters that GASC had. In November, Mostakbal Misr’s attempt to enter into direct supply agreements failed because the terms of sale were unclear, Bloomberg reported.

But recently, Mostakbal Misr, which was transferred from GASC at the end of 2024, signed wheat supply agreements with European suppliers, including barter agreements, which will allow diversifying food imports. However, the agency does not provide information on volumes, prices, and origin of the grain. So far, it is known that 28 thousand tons of Russian wheat arrived in Egypt for Mostakbal Misr at the end of December, and another 33 thousand tons of grain from Russia were booked under a private agreement in early January.

Egypt is one of the world’s largest importers of Russian grain. According to Reuters, in 2024, it purchased 14.7 mln tonnes of wheat on the world market, 74.3% of which were supplied from Russia.

At the same time, in 2023/24 MY GASC purchased the following wheat shipments:

from Russia – 4.1 mln tonnes,
Romania – 780 thsd tonnes
Ukraine – 360 thsd tonnes,
Bulgaria – 200 thsd tonnes,
France – 180 thsd tonnes,
other countries – 55 thousand tons.

Tags: wheat, imports, Egypt, tender