CAIRO: Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, has bought about 3.5 million tonnes of local wheat from farmers since the harvest began last month, state media reported on Friday.
The government wants to buy more of the local crop to cut its food imports bill and is aiming to buy 4.4 million tonnes of local wheat in the harvest that ends next month.
Supplies Minister Khaled Hanafi was quoted by state-run al-Ahram newspaper's website as saying the country's strategic wheat reserves were enough for the coming six months.
Local wheat purchases to date represent a 40 percent increase over the same period last year, he said.
The government is billing its effort to increase local wheat purchases as part of a plan to boost self-sufficiency in the strategic sector.
The Supplies Ministry set a local price this year exceeding what Egypt pays in international markets by more than $100 a tonnes as a way of encouraging farmers to sell to the government and to grow wheat instead of other crops.
Ousted President Mohamed Mursi had set similar targets but did not achieve them.
The harvest is in full swing in northern parts of the Nile Delta and nearly finished in fields further south.
Egypt estimates its wheat crop this year at about 9 million tonnes, in line with the US Department of Agriculture's estimate of 8.95 million tonnes.
Millions of Egyptians rely on government-subsidised bread, but the wasteful and corrupt system for providing it strains the budget and foreign reserves.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.