CAIRO: Egypt has targeted procurement of 5 million tonnes of local wheat next season as it moves away from being one of the world’s top wheat importers to self-sufficiency, the Supply Ministry said on Sunday.

Egypt typically imports about 10 million tonnes a year, with the state buyer obtaining roughly half of that for the country’s bread subsidy program on which 70 million people rely.

In the first half of this year, however, imports were a quarter less than the same period last year, according to shipping and trading data reviewed by Reuters. The government’s share of those imports dropped by more than half to about 1.6 million tonnes, reflecting slower procurement since the state buyer changed from the General Authority for Supply Commodities to the Future of Egypt for Sustainable Development. The ministry said that it procured more than 4 million tonnes of wheat during the domestic harvest.

Reserves of strategic commodities are within safe buffers and as high as last year or higher in some commodities, the Supply Ministry added without providing more data.

In November 2024, Egypt’s wheat stocks covered five months of consumption, below the six-month threshold Egypt hopes to maintain. 

Last week Reuters reported that the Future of Egypt, which took over purchasing in December, had ditched the formal tenders of GASC in favor of informal negotiations, spurring mounting trade tensions and a drop in Egypt’s wheat imports.