Egypt to reclaim world's top wheat importer ranking in 2024

Ahram Online , Thursday 22 Jun 2023

Egypt is expected to import 12 million tons of wheat during the fiscal year 2023/2024, up from 11.6 million tons in 2022/2023, to reclaim its position as the world's top wheat importer, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

File Photo: General view of a wheat field in Egypt s Beheira. Reuters

Domestically, The Egyptian government hopes to purchase four million tons of local wheat during the current harvest season which started in April.

The government has increased local wheat procurement price by 20 percent to EGP 1,500 per ardeb (150 kg) for the current harvest season to incentivize farmers to supply to the state.

The Ministry of Supply announced in May that the country's current wheat stock amounted to 2.7 million tons, which is enough for six months.

Global production outlook

Meanwhile, the FAO forecasts that global wheat production to decline by 3 percent year-on-year to 777 million tons in 2023.

The decline in global wheat production will be the result of a drop of the production of Australia (28.1 percent), Russia (19.3 percent), Ukraine (15.8 percent) and Kazakhstan (14 percent).

Wheat prices have declined globally despite reduced exports from the two major producers, Russia and Ukraine with some economists attributing this decline to sluggish global growth.