In an effort to reduce imports, Egypt has contracted to purchase 180,000 tonnes of wheat from India, which is less than had been previously agreed. However, the supply minister said on Sunday that Egypt is looking at ways to increase the amount of flour produced from grain and even use potatoes to make bread.
One of the major wheat importers in the world, Egypt, has recently sourced a large portion of its grain from the Black Sea, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has hampered those supplies.
The cost of importing wheat has also gone up because of the violence. Over 70 million of Egypt’s 103 million people have access to significantly subsidized bread thanks primarily to imported wheat.
Egypt agreed to purchase 500,000 tonnes of wheat from India, according to Supply Minister Aly Moselhy, as the country worked to diversify the sources of its imports. In the same month, India prohibited the export of wheat but provided exceptions for nations like Egypt that required food security.
According to what the supplier stated, the need for the wheat to be accessible was that it must be at the ports, Moselhy said during a press conference on Sunday.
The supplier has 180,000 tonnes in the port despite our having committed to 500,000 tonnes, it turns out.
Moselhy noted that Egypt was also negotiating a wheat purchase deal with Russian producers.
Separately, according to Moselhy, Egypt is examining techniques to extract more flour from grain, increasing the amount of wheat used for subsidised bread that is extracted to 87.5 percent from 82 percent.
According to him, this might prevent the need to import up to 500,000 tonnes of wheat during the fiscal year 2022–2023.
The addition of potatoes to wheat flour was another experiment. We are now examining the technology, Moselhy stated.
According to Moselhy, the current wheat supplies are adequate to last for about 6 months following the purchase of 3.9 million tonnes during the local harvest.
