Miller Magazine Issue: 140 August 2021

61 INTERVIEW MILLER / august 2021 the Egyptian milling industry? The COVID-19 crisis was not easy for any sector, espe- cially for the food sector and flour production. The flour market witnessed an unprecedented high demand during the crisis. As soon as the lockdown was announced in many countries worldwide, people rushed to markets to buy large quantities of flour and also supermarkets and bakeries announced unexpected requests for flour. But luckily and thanks to the great efforts that our employees have shown, we were able to serve the Egyptian market during the crisis and cover the huge needs of flour and meet all the needs of our customers, we ensured the continuous provision of our supply chain. We are proud to be part of the system that provided food during this difficult period. Our state-of-the-art machines and our partner Buhler helped us to operate some of the milling equipment re- motely, which helped in reducing the number of workers per shift and having less crowding at work. We also cre- ated an application for ordering flour online and remotely. The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered health and wellness spending all over the world. Is there any change in food trends in Egypt and the region due to the pandemic? The new situation caused a state of alert and people rushed to supermarkets to stock food supplies, people were afraid of not having enough quantities of necessary food supplies so they were stockpiling and storing more at home. But over time things were getting stabilized and food became available as normal, yet we noticed that there is a new tendency for people to buy small pack- ages of flour more than before, maybe because people got used to baking and cooking at home more than usual after the pandemic. EGYPT: A PROMISING FLOUR MARKET Could you give some information on the Egyptian flour milling industry? What are the major challenges for the Egyptian millers today? The Egyptian market is an enormous market and very promising market. There are great opportunities to invest in this sector due to the continuous population growth. The most important challenge that we face is the provi- sion of sufficient wheat quantities for our operations and