File photo: Egyptian farmers plant rice in a field of the Mit al-Ezz village, near Mit Ghamr town in the Nile Delta, some 80 km north of the Capital, on June 25, 2022. AFP
The delivery of the 250,000 tons is anticipated to occur within six weeks from the date of contract signing.
Upon its arrival, the new shipment will be made available at competitive prices with the intention of stabilizing the market, the statement added.
This procurement is in line with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's directives to bolster strategic reserves of vital commodities.
Last week, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced a government initiative to reduce the prices of a number of basic commodities by 15 to 25 percent.
These commodities include beans, dairy products, white cheese, mixed cooking oil, pasta, sugar, lentils, poultry products, eggs, and rice.
Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir said the government seeks to facilitate procedures for releasing imported goods from ports in the near future.
Samir said in August that the area used for rice cultivation in the new season, which commenced in mid-September, reached 1.6 million acres, while Egyptian consumption amounts to about 3.2 million tons.
The recent rice purchase is part of Egypt’s efforts to enhance the supply of basic goods in the market to control increasing prices and boost people’s purchasing power.
Egypt’s annual headline inflation decelerated to 38 percent in September, down from 39.7 percent in August. However, it remains above the 15 percent recorded in September 2022, according to official data.
The government has coordinated with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to secure the US dollars required to procure goods and to find solutions to lower the prices of basic goods.
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