CAIRO: Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, has strategic stocks of 2.116 million tonnes of the grain from international and local markets, enough to last 85 days, a cabinet report said on Wednesday.
"The total strategic stocks of local and imported wheat have reached 2.116 million tonnes, enough for 85 days until June 19, 2013," the report said. On March 13, Egypt said its wheat stocks were enough for 89 days.
Two years of economic and political turmoil in the Arab world's most populous state has made it hard for Egypt to arrange payments for wheat imports, with the pace of purchases down sharply since the start of the year.
Industry sources expect the country not to buy from the international market until the end of June.
While reserves are dwindling, the government also raised its projection of the local harvest to more than 9 million tonnes a number that would exceed the current record of 8.523 million tonnes in 2009-10, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates.
Even if those goals for domestic purchases are met, the harvest of homegrown wheat is weeks away, and Egypt is already far short of its target to have six months supply on hand.
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