CAIRO: Egypt expects to cut imports of yellow corn to 7 million tonnes during the 2017-18 fiscal year beginning in July from 8.5 million tonnes the year before due to higher local production, Agriculture Minister Abdel Moneim Al-Banna said on Wednesday.
Egypt has been trying to reduce its reliance on imports after a shortage of foreign currency in recent years sapped its ability to purchase from abroad and hampered economic growth.
Banna said Egypt would offer farmers about twice as much per tonne for their corn this fiscal year - 3,400 Egyptian pounds ($190.48) compared with about 1,700 last year.
Egypt last year floated its pound currency, causing it to roughly halve in value and pushing inflation to over 30 percent.
The higher procurement price is expected to boost the total area of corn planted by about 500,000 feddans (210,000 acres), to reach about 1.25 million feddans, Banna said.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.