The GASC said the move part of the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade's strategy to increase its strategic reserves of basic commodities.

The ministry aims to procure nearly 6 million tons of wheat this harvest season. 

The GASC’s announcement comes a few weeks after India announced it was in final talks to start exporting wheat to Egypt.

Over the past two weeks, the Russian-Ukrainian war has led to a disruption in wheat exports from eastern Europe and remarkable global inflation. Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly 30 percent of the world’s wheat exports.

Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, relies on wheat to produce bread — a key staple for Egyptians — with 80 percent of its wheat imported from Russia and Ukraine.

Egypt imports 12 to 13 million tonnes of wheat per year, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) in 2020 — an online data visualisation platform focused on the geography and dynamics of economic activities across the globe.

Egypt is currently seeking to diversify its wheat imports, setting its eyes on 14 alternative markets, including non-European countries like the US, Argentina, Canada, and Paraguay.

In early March, Egypt imposed an export ban on wheat, fava beans, lentils, pasta, flour, cooking oil, corn, and cracked green wheat for three months.

Earlier April, the Egyptian government allocated EGP 1.1 billion for the GASC and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt in order to finance local wheat crop procurement from farmers.