Egypt denies claims of reducing wheat-cultivated lands for more imports: IDSC

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Fri, 03 Aug 2018 - 12:38 GMT

BY

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 - 12:38 GMT

Farmers harvest wheat on Qalyub farm in the El-Kalubia governorate, northeast of Cairo, Egypt May 1, 2016. – (Reuters)

Farmers harvest wheat on Qalyub farm in the El-Kalubia governorate, northeast of Cairo, Egypt May 1, 2016. – (Reuters)

CAIRO – 3 August 2018: The Ministry of Supply has denied rumors that Egypt is planning to reduce the patch of land allocated for wheat cultivation, and instead purchase an unprecedented rate from abroad, said a Friday statement by the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC).

The IDSC, which is a subset of the Cabinet, quoted the supply ministry as saying that wheat will be cultivated this year on a land of 3 million feddans as agreed on previously, and that the government is seeking to increase the size of the cultivated land to fill the gap between production and consumption.

The ministry went on explaining that wheat is being purchased as per an adopted plan aiming to guarantee a strategic reserve of wheat, which is sufficient to cover the country’s needs for four months, according to the statement.

Last year, Egypt cultivated 3.1 million feddans of wheat, and purchased 6.5 million tons.
Reuters quoted the ministry on Friday as saying that Egypt is seeking to buy 6.5 million tons of wheat during the fiscal year 2018-2019, which is the same amount purchased last year.

In June, Reuters said the government has tried to promote its local crop as a way to reduce its world-topping level of imports.

Egypt is the world's largest importer of wheat and is the destination of roughly one-third of Russian wheat exports. In July, Egypt and Kazakhstan discussed boosting the trade exchange of wheat and meat.

Egypt’s fiscal year starts in July and ends on June 30.

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