Sisi calls for procuring more locally grown wheat

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday he wants to see the government procure up to 10 million tons of locally grown wheat, around twice the declared target for this year’s harvest.

In March, Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, said it wanted local growers to sell six million tons of their wheat crop to the government. This scheme is designed to make up for higher wheat prices on world markets and the disruption of supplies from warring Russia and Ukraine, both which met more than half of Egypt’s annual wheat imports, as the country bought more than 10 million tons last year from the two countries.

So far, Egypt, where bread is a staple for most of its 103 million population, has procured 3.9 million tonnes of locally grown wheat, according to the latest government figures.

When the six million tonnes are in the government silos, Egypt will have enough wheat to meet local demand for six months.

The wheat harvest in Egypt continues until August.

“Given the chance, we don’t want just six million tonnes. How about nine or 10? We don’t know where things are headed or how long this thing [the fallout from Ukraine war] will be with us,” President al-Sisi said in televised remarks made during a ceremony marking the launch of a livestock and dairy project.