Egypt increases local wheat procurement price for harvest season beginning in April

Egypt will raise the local wheat procurement price for the harvest beginning in April by around EGP 670 ($42.66) per tonne amid a rise in global prices, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Tuesday.

In a meeting with the industrial and business community on the draft budget, Maait said that the government decided to increase the prices of local wheat procurement to ease the burden on farmers.

He said that the state’s treasury has incurred around EGP 12 billion as additional allocations to purchase wheat after a spike in global prices due to turbulence in supply chains, a rise in freight rates and unprecedented inflation rates globally.

The minister did not set a final procurement price for the harvest season which begins in April.

In November, Egypt raised procurement price to EGP 820 Egyptian pounds per ardeb in a move meant to encourage farmers to increase the amount of cultivated land.

The decision was taken due to international rise in wheat prices to their highest in a decade.

Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, reported around 5.5 million tonnes of wheat in imports last year, and around 3.5 million tons of locally procured wheat.

Supply Minister Ali Mosselhi forecast in December Egypt’s imports of wheat in 2022 to drop to 5.3 million tonnes due to an increase in locally procured wheat from farmers.

Ahram Online

Tags: wheat, Egypt