Egyptian Food Supply Minister Khaled Hanafy said the government set a target of buying four million tons of wheat from local sources during the 2014 harvest season, marking an increase of 400,000 tons from the last year. Each ardeb (150 kg) will cost LE420.
Hanafy added that farmers and merchants will hand in the wheat starting mid-April for three months.
Government purchased around 3.6 million tons of wheat last year at the price of LE390-400 per ardeb, depending on the quality of the wheat.
"There will be coordination with the Petroleum Ministry and the authorities in question to provide farmers' diesel oil needs," said the minister.
"The strategic reserve of wheat to produce subsidized bread is safe and sufficient to last until mid-June," he added. "It will increase after receiving the local wheat and foreign shipments."
Egypt usually imports around ten million tons of wheat annually from international markets and uses a blend of local and imported wheat to produce subsidized bread on which millions of Egyptians are dependant. Purchases by the General Authority for Supply Commodities represent around 5-5.5 million tons of the total.
