Egypt’s wheat storage capacity exceeds 4 mln tonnes – official

Egypt’s wheat storage capacity has increased to more than 4 million tonnes, up from a capacity of 3.6 million tonnes at the end of 2019, a supply ministry official told Reuters on Sunday.

Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has been trying to increase its capacity by building more silos in recent years.

Sunday’s announcement comes days after Egypt said it has purchased a total of 3.5 million tonnes of wheat from local farmers as the harvest season, which began in mid April, concluded.

The figure is up 300,000 tonnes in comparison with wheat purchased last year, according to the supply ministry last week.

Egypt consumes around 20 million tonnes of wheat yearly and imports around 12 million tonnes, according to a recent report by the US Department of Agriculture.