Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhi told the Senate on Sunday that Egypt is doing its best to achieve greater self-sufficiency in wheat production, aiming “to meet 65 percent of domestic needs by the year 2024.”
Responding to questions on the impact of the current global food crisis on Egypt, El-Moselhi said the government's policy of preparing a six-month stock of basic commodities was highly successful in absorbing this crisis.
"We moved on different fronts to absorb this crisis, such as diversifying the sources of our wheat imports, building a big number of wheat silos and opening hundreds of retail markets to make sure that citizens get their food needs at reasonable prices," said Moselhi.
Moselhi said that while the Russia-Ukraine war had disrupted food chains worldwide, including Egypt’s, “the fact that we had enough stockpiles led us to absorb the crisis," said El-Moselhi.
However, he admitted that the government had to intervene for a limited period at some "critical times" to enforce price controls on bread and other commodities like sugar and rice to stabilize prices and prevent monopolistic practices on the market.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
