Three international logistics centres for food commodities are to be constructed, announced Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Khaled Hanafy on Wednesday. The centres will be located in three areas: Damietta, East Port Said, and Safaga. The project will be in collaboration with the ministries of Transport and Housing, with investments estimated at EGP 13bn, and is expected to provide about 20,000 jobs during construction and operation. The project is expected to be completed in two years. The supply minister's announcements came during a meeting with experts from Alexandria University and the Academy of Maritime Transport, who are undertaking technical and engineering studies for the three logistics centres. Hanafy indicated that the logistical centres are part of the major projects presented to global investment firms during President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's visit to New York last week. Hanafy also stated that additional facilities are being built to import, store, manufacture and export grain and food commodities such as wheat, corn, oils, soybeans, raw and refined sugar and other goods. The supply minister claimed that the volume of produce of the new facilities is estimated to reach 65m tonnes every year and will be used for both domestic consumption and for export to Arab and African countries. Hanafy added that the formation of those centres contributes to the development of the largest commodity exchange in Egypt and the Middle East, specialising in the assembly and trading of cereals, wheat and food products. According to the ministry of supply, 1.6 billion people consume products from Egypt's food, including Arab and Gulf countries as well as different European countries.
