Egypt announces the adoption of India as a new country of origin to import wheat

Yesterday, Thursday, the official Egyptian Middle East News Agency quoted the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture, Al-Sayed Al-Qusair, as saying that Egypt had added India as a new country of origin for importing wheat.

Al-Qusair added that this measure "comes within the framework of the state's continuous efforts to open new sources and secure Egypt's imports of wheat as a strategic commodity."

The Egyptian Ministry of Supply confirmed this week that it is studying this month adding India to 16 other wheat importing places accepted by the General Authority for Supply Commodities, the state grain buyer, at a time when Egypt seeks to support its purchases that were disrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And Egypt, which is usually the largest importer of wheat in the world, buys it through tenders issued by the General Authority for Supply Commodities.

These purchases are directed to the production of subsidized bread, which is available to about 60 million Egyptians.

The Authority's conditions booklet currently contains 16 approved sources for importing wheat, including Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany, Kazakhstan and the United States.

Latvia was the latest addition to the list last November.

The SCA often prefers Black Sea wheat for its proximity, quality and competitive prices, but the war in Ukraine since late February has pushed up global wheat prices and disrupted shipping through the Black Sea, although wheat shipments from Russia continued in March.

Egypt bought large quantities of wheat, mostly from France, on Wednesday, to support dwindling reserves for the first time since the war in Ukraine.

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