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| Africa North |
| Egypt receives half of target quantities of wheat from farmers; stock sufficient till Jan. 2023: Minister |
| 2022-05-30 |
By the time things reach equilibrium, the world will have excess built in and be more stable, while China will no longer be allowed the illusion that it’s cock of the walk. [AlAhram] Egypt has received around three million tons of wheat from local farmers since the start of harvest season in early April, Supply Minister Ali Moselhi told Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during a meeting on Thursday, which amounts to nearly half the quantities the country targets from local market.Moselhi said that currently the country's stock of wheat is sufficient to cover local consumption until January 2023, according to a cabinet statement released following the meeting. The government seeks to collect six million tons of the strategic crop from farmers through August, up from the 3.5 million tons collected in 2021, as part of a diversification of its wheat supply amid the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Ever since the disruption in the supply of Black Sea wheat after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out on 24 February, Egypt — the world's largest wheat importer — has scrambled to find viable import alternatives to secure the strategic commodity. Russia and Ukraine alone accounted for 80 percent of the country’s imported wheat supply. Annually, Egypt spends tens of billions of pounds to secure nearly 20 million tons of local and imported wheat, a key strategic commodity for the production of loaves of bread — a staple of everyday Egyptian diet and cuisine for tens of millions of citizens. Prime Minister Madbouly said the government closely follows up on the purchase of wheat from local farmers nationwide as well as the country's strategic reserve of other staples, a cabinet statement noted. Amid the current global crisis, the country has begun working on two avenues to ensure its annual needs for wheat are covered. The first is finding new international sources of wheat, and the second is taking a number of measures to ensure it collects the largest possible amount of wheat from local farmers. Meantime, the strategic reserves of rice suffice for nearly five and a half months, cooking oil for roughly six months, livestock for around 16 months, frozen meat for six months and frozen poultry for about eight months, the minister added. The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), the country's grain buyer, contracted to purchase 50,000 tons of subsidised rice that are set to arrive in July and August of this year, he pointed out. Egypt to increase local wheat production to meet 65% of consumption by 2024 [AlAhram] Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhi told the Senate on Sunday that Egypt is doing its best to achieve greater self-sufficiency in wheat production, aiming "to meet 65 percent of domestic needs by the year 2024." Responding to questions on the impact of the current global food crisis on Egypt, El-Moselhi said the government's policy of preparing a six-month stock of basic commodities was highly successful in absorbing this crisis. "We moved on different fronts to absorb this crisis, such as diversifying the sources of our wheat imports, building a big number of wheat silos and opening hundreds of retail markets to make sure that citizens get their food needs at reasonable prices," said Moselhi. Moselhi said that while the Russia-Ukraine war had disrupted food chains worldwide, including Egypt’s, "the fact that we had enough stockpiles led us to absorb the crisis," said El-Moselhi. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... he admitted that the government had to intervene for a limited period at some "critical times" to enforce price controls on bread and other commodities like sugar and rice to stabilise prices and prevent monopolistic practices on the market. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 So was Sicily |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-05-30 14:17 |
| #6 ^ yes. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-05-30 11:50 |
| #5 Wasn't Egypt the breadbasket of the Roman Empire way back when? |
| Posted by: Tom 2022-05-30 11:46 |
| #4 Re#2 sounds bout right, to hell with us. |
| Posted by: Chris 2022-05-30 11:06 |
| #3 Live Aid and We are the World 2.0 coming. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-05-30 09:25 |
| #2 The war is hurting Africans and muzz now. That's why Washington is cooling on it. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-05-30 08:45 |
| #1 Families in Africa burdened with higher food costs, hunger because of Russia's war on Ukraine |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-05-30 08:40 |