Egypt: The food obsession

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that his country would impose a temporary ban on grain exports due to high heat and drought, resulting in an increase of the benchmark index of cereal products ever recorded for the last 23 months on the world markets.
Egypt, the top importer of wheat, is only 56% self-sufficient in wheat production. It currently buys an average of 8 million tons of wheat per year for the production of subsidised bread, including 2 to 3 million tons on average are bought from local market while 5 to 6 million tons are imported.

During the 2009-2010 fiscal year that ended in June, Russia was the largest exporter of wheat in the direction of Egypt with 59% of total Egyptian imports. France comes second with 27% and the United States third with 7%.
With the Russian announcement to restrict its exports by 20%, the Egyptian authorities still are reassuring. Thus, the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture, Amin Abbaza, downplayed the effects of the Russian ban on grain exports, saying that his ministry has taken steps to import 250,000 tons from other countries. He also added that Egypt will be able to afford 75-80% of its wheat requirements in 10 years. He made the announcement after Egypt signed a contract on the delivery to Afghanistan of 150 tons of wheat seed developed locally and known as “Egypt 1” and “Egypt 2, “very fertile species and resistant to drought.
For his part, the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, Rashid Mohamed Rashid, said that Russia is considering the Egyptian request in reprogramming the delivery of 540,000 tons of wheat purchased by Egypt before Russia decides on prohibiting the export of grain.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.