Alaa Khalil, head of the crop research institute at the Ministry of Agriculture, told Reuters on Tuesday that Egypt will produce 4 million tonnes of white rice in the 2019 season compared to 2.7 million tonnes produced in 2018. Khalil told Reuters that the 2019 production would be sufficient to meet local needs, and will also produce a surplus, clarifying that Egyptians consume around 3.2 million tonnes of rice a year.