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Egypt’s strategic reserves of wheat are enough for between three and six months, the country's Ministry of Supplies and Domestic Trade announced. Egyptian wheat reserves sit at 4.7 million tonnes, 1.7 million of which have been imported through public bids, Nomani Nomani, vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website by way of explantion. GASC is Egypt's state-run commodities buyer and distributer. The government is trying to enhance Egypt's reserves through buying harvests from exporting countries as well as upping domestic production.
Egypt bought 2.6 million tonnes of locally-grown wheat in 2011, up from 2.1 million the year before. Egypt is the world's largest importer of wheat, importing half its needs. Last October, the goverment said it had raised the price it pays local farmers for their wheat to LE380 ($63.60) per ardeb (140 kg), up from LE350, to give them an incentive. Egypt will have consumed 18.9 million tonnes of wheat in 2011/12, up from 17.7 million tonnes the previous year, according to predictions from the US Department of Agriculture.
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