Egypt has bought 1.6mn T of local wheat since April 15

CAIRO: Egypt bought 1.6 million tonnes of domestic wheat since the start of the procurement season on April 15, the supplies minister said on Tuesday.

Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, plans to buy 4 million tonnes of Egyptian wheat in the 2016 season.

The agriculture ministry has said all necessary precautions had been taken to avoid sales of cheaper imported wheat to the government that had been falsely labelled as Egyptian wheat.

Last season the government bought a record 5.3 million tonnes of local wheat but roughly 2 million tonnes of the total was believed to be of foreign origin.