Egypt's import of wheat 2024 at the highest level in ten years

The import of wheat in Egypt jumped to the highest level during the year 2024 to reach 14.2 million tonnes, compared to 10.8 million tonnes in 2023, an increase of 31%, according to an official document obtained by “Al Sharq”. The reason for increasing the amounts imported from wheat over the past year is mainly due to the abundance of the dollar, in addition to the fall in the average global wheat prices during the same year up to $ 240 per tonne, compared to its prices in 2023, which was more than $ 350 per tonne, according to a government official for the “East”. The country did not see that the import of such large quantities of wheat was ten years ago, as the largest amount of Egypt was in 2014 when it bought about 14.9 million tonnes. The Egyptian government’s part of imported wheat quantities reached 6.2 million tonnes, an increase of 30% during 2023, according to the official, who spoke to Al -Sharq, provided his name is not published. Egypt is one of the largest wheat importers in the world, and its purchases are carefully pursued as a global indicator, and it usually buys from outside to 12 million tonnes for the government and private sector, but over the past year it has increased its imports significantly, bypassing the average annual import rate. The country comes in the list of the most consuming wheat fields in the 2023-2024 season with more than 20 million tonnes, representing 2.6% of global consumption, according to the October report issued by the US Department of Agriculture. Russia, the largest provider of Egypt, showed the document seen by “Al Sharq” that Russia was first arranged on the list of wheat exporting countries for the first time on the list of wheat exporting countries, equivalent to the total number of Egypt’s entire wheat imports during the previous year. Russia acquired a share of 74% of total imports, and in quantities approaching 10.5 million tonnes, with more than 3 million tonnes 2023. The wheat transplanting season began in Egypt during mid -November 2024 and September to the end of January, while the harvesting season began from mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid to mid 2025. to the Alaa Farouk, Minister of Egyptian Agriculture, for Al -Sharq, compared to 3.2 million hectares last year. In a surprising step in December last year, Egypt, the responsibility of wheat purchases of the Supply Commodities Authority, which is the usual government agency for the purchase of grains, transferred to the ‘future of Egypt’ as an exclusive importer. The announcement officially came for the first time through an official letter from the Egyptian minister of provision to the Russian Minister of Agriculture. The document that “Al Sharq” obtained a copy of the Egypt’s import of grains in general also revealed by the amounts of yellow wheat in 2024 increased by 36% to 9 million tonnes, and the country’s imports of soybeans increased by 76% to 3.7 million tonnes in the same year.