Egypt pays 4 billion pounds to local wheat farmers since mid-April

Egypt’s Ministry of Finance has paid local wheat farmers around 4 billion Egyptian pounds ($220.5 million) since the start of the harvest season in mid-April.

The ministry is allocating for this season 16 billion pounds to purchase around four million tonnes of wheat.

The government has received 1.15 million tonnes of wheat since mid-April until May 10th, the Supply Ministry’s media advisor Mohamed Sweed told Amwal Al Ghad on Thursday.

The planning ministry announced earlier that Egypt aims to increase its silo storage capacity to 3.13 million tonnes of wheat in financial year 2017/18 from 1.528 million tonnes in financial year 2015/16.

Sweed also said that the ministry’s examining committees have rejected 2,824 tonnes of wheat that did not meet the required quality standards.

Egypt, the world’s top importer of grain, is aiming to boost domestic production in an effort to cut its import bill. The state and private buyers purchase around 10 million tonnes from abroad annually.