Egypt stops collecting wheat because its purchases don’t meet its goals, according to papers

Egyptian wheat collection centers have started closing early, which means the harvest is almost over and the government hasn’t bought enough wheat to meet its goals, according to a document seen by Reuters from the supply ministry.

Despite high inflation and ongoing economic problems, Egypt, which is often the world’s biggest wheat importer, is trying to find cheap sources for a huge bread program that feeds nearly 70 million people.

According to the government, the local harvest was worth about 10 million tons of wheat, so they wanted to get between 4 and 5 million metric tons of wheat. It’s truly summer now, even though it started in the middle of April.

According to a second, different official document that Reuters looked at, just over 3.9 million tons had been collected by Saturday, June 28.

Recently, the supply ministry has started slowly closing some collection points across the country because farmers aren’t delivering enough, according to the first paper.

For three to five days in a row, centers that are still open will also be closed, according to official papers.

This was the Supply Ministry’s response to Reuters’s request for feedback.

Additionally, Egypt usually brings in about 5 million tons of food each year to add to its own harvest and support its strategic stores and bread subsidy system.

Although, imports have been lower than they were in the first half of 2024 as well, officials said last week.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said earlier this month that the country has enough wheat and other goods in strategic stocks to last for more than six months.