Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Khaled Hanafi said that the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) contracted -through an international tender- to buy 240,000 tonnes of wheat from France, Romania and Ukraine, at an average price of $188.86 per tonne.
Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, currently has reserves sufficient until 1st of July, with new shipments to cover local markets by mid-April with inventory, the minister added. “Half of the shipment is coming from France, while Romania and Ukraine are shipping 60,000 tonnes each.” Hanafi stated.
Last month, GASC had to cancel an international wheat tender after being offered unsatisfactory prices by only four traders.
Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, Deputy Chairman of GASC, said that the authority imports wheat from international stock markets
The government’s decision is filtered through Egyptian standard specifications no. 1601 of the year 2005, the Codex international standard specifications no.199 for the year 1995, and ISO 7970 international standard specifications for the year 2000. He added that the ministry purchases wheat from several markets and is not dependable on a specific one. Countries like Russia, Romania, Canada, France, Argentina, US, Ukraine, among others.
Abdel Fattah stated that all wheat imported is of the highest quality and lowest price, adding that all shipments entering Egypt are inspected at freight ports by international corporations, and also after they arrive at the Egyptian ports by joint government technical committees.
