clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Egypt wheat harvest short of target

June 21, 2017 at 9:59 am

Wheat is harvested on 18 June 2017 [Halil Fidan/Anadolu Agency]

Egypt yesterday closed this year’s wheat harvest with supply falling short of government targets.

Some 3.4 million tonnes of wheat were gathered during this season, a little shy of official targets of 3.5 to 4 million tonnes.

Minister of Supply and Internal Trading, Aly Moselhy, said in a statement that the government had, for the first time, stored the grain in silos and hangars, in an effort to preserve the stock and reduce losses.

Read: Egypt detects food which is ‘unfit for human consumption’

Egypt’s wheat harvest typically runs from April through July.

The government has aimed to purchase the local wheat tonnage at 555-575 Egyptian pounds ($30.8-$31.9) per 150 kilogrammes, since the beginning of its harvest in mid-April 2017.

#SisiEra

Egypt also purchased 350,000 tonnes of durum wheat from farmers, which will be sold to local pasta factories, the supply ministry’s spokesman said.

Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, consumes between 14.5 million and 15 million tonnes of wheat annually, according to the minister.