Miller Magazine Issue: 148 April 2022

102 COUNTRY PROFILE MILLER / APRIL 2022 creasing over the last three decades at a rate higher than that of domestic production. The Egyptian government has been spending about $3 billion annually for wheat imports. The recent price increase could nearly double that to $5.7 billion. EGYPT RELIES ON RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN WHEAT In its latest report released on 28th March, the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Ser- vice (FAS) post in Cairo forecasts Egypt’s wheat imports in MY 2022/23 (July – June) at 11 MMT (million metric tons), down by 9.1 percent from Post’s MY 2021/22 import esti- mate figure of 12 MMT. Despite the government’s efforts following the global food crisis in 2007/8 to diversify sources of grain imports, the vast majority of the increase in wheat imports came from Russia and Ukraine. Egypt’s imports of wheat over the last five years amounted to 62.6 MMT, with 59.7 percent from Russia and 22.3 percent from Ukraine (82 percent combined). Egypt relies on Russian and Ukrainian wheat due to competitive prices, lower freight costs, and less time reaching Egyptian ports compared to other origins. The following are highlights from report issued by the USDA FAS post in Cairo: Egypt’s 2021 wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine amounted to almost 77 percent of total wheat imports. Pri- vate sector imports represented 60 percent of total imports and government imports were 40 percent in 2021. Private industry became a major player in the wheat market in Egypt during the past five years, gaining more market share every year in the wheat trade. The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) is the government agency that implements wheat tenders for Egypt’s bread subsidy program. From MY 2015/16 through MY 2020/21 (July-June), GASC’s largest foreign suppliers have been Russia (20.14 MMT) and Romania (4.92 MMT), fol- lowed by Ukraine (3.14 MMT) and France (1.8 MMT). MY 2021/22 (June - Feb) government imports were 43 percent from Romania, 29 percent from Russia, 23 percent from Ukraine, and the remaining 5 percent from France. Romanian wheat was offered at more competitive prices in government tenders than the Russian and Ukrainian origins. As of the last quarter in 2021, wheat prices increased by an average of $100/MT. This meant an additional cost to the government budget allocated for the importation of wheat for the bread subsidy program in the current fiscal year end- ing in June 2022. The Prime Minister of Egypt said during