Egypt is targeting between 4 to 4.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2017, Supply Minister Ali Moselhi said on Monday according to state news agency MENA. Moselhi said at a press conference that there are two wheat silos from the UAE and Bloomberg that would increase storage capacity to 4.2 million tonnes. At Monday's cabinet meeting, the government discussed preparations for storing wheat and decided to form a committee in each government to receive the wheat, Moselhi said, adding that there will be no wasting of wheat this year as there will be a new framework to receive the wheat from farmers through this committee. In January, the previous supply minister said that Egypt's wheat reserves are sufficient to last for five months. Agriculture ministry spokesperson Hamed Abdel-Daym told Ahram Online that 3.5 million feddans of land (about 3.6 million acres) would be allocated for growing wheat in 2017-2018, an increase from 3.4 million feddans last year. Early in March, Egypt raised the supply price of wheat it will buy from farmers from mid-April to mid-July to reach a maximum of EGP 575 per ardeb (roughly 150 kg). The new prices of the wheat are divided into three categories: EGP 555 per ardeb for the lowest quality, followed by EGP 565 and EGP 575 for the finer qualities. This is the second time in the past five months that the country has increased the supply price for wheat. In November 2016, immediately after the country floated its currency and increased the price of subsidised fuel, the cabinet increased the prices from EGP 420 to EGP 450 per ardeb to support local producers.
