...On June 2, ration card holders were requested [by Egypt’s Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade] to obtain their bread rations on a daily basis. Those who did not pick up their rations for three days [would] no longer [be able to] take the entire amount at once and must wait 48 hours for the rest [as Egypt struggles to weather the economic crisis by stringencies involved in its requests for a new loan from the IMF and help from the World Bank, over and above the Saudi-based International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation‘s $6 billion]…
...Ahmed Kamal, [ministry spokesperson], told Al-Monitor via phone that the ministry had already removed nearly half a million citizens from the subsidy system. He stressed that the government’s goal is to offer support to those who need it the most, saying, “Well-off Egyptians should not benefit from subsidies, which should … go only to those who really need it — the most vulnerable.”
Kamal added that the ministry has set new conditions for subsidy eligibility. “Citizens who shall no longer benefit from subsidies include those with high [monthly] salaries that exceed 9,600 Egyptian pounds [$500], owners of major businesses, those who own car models from 2015 and newer, households who pay more than 20,000 pounds (about $1,070) per month for their children’s education and those who own farmland of 10 acres or more...”
On June 5, the Ministry announced a joint measure with the passport department, to discontinue subsidy ration cards for citizens traveling outside the country, including those abroad for over three months in a row.
The rate of domestic demand for wheat in Egypt, whose population exceeds 103 million, remains the highest in the world.
Russia and Ukraine together have been the major world grain market producers, their wheat exports comprising 23% of global trade in 2021-22, and Egypt has been the leading wheat importer: about 12.9 million tons in 2020, at a cost of $3.2 billion in 2020, according to al-monitor’s information from the Egyptian statistics agency. Although second in world production after maize, Wheat is cultivated on more land area globally than any other food crop, and world trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined, with consumption growing under the combined effects of westernization of the diet and expanding industrialization.
The months of shortage caused by Putin’s war have had enough of a global impact that when India —2nd largest producer after Ukraine and Russia, but conserving most of its output for its own poor, with less than 1% exported— announced an export ban on 13 May (potentially including on negotiated supply to Egypt) due to unseasonably hot weather affecting the crop there, the announcement caused ripple effects in markets worldwide, as well as prices of wheat goods skyrocketing within that nation of over one billion people.
As early as late January, the ramifications of the war were central in a discussion between Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s Foreign Minister and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The U.S. has been the world’s third largest producer, (albeit struggling under climatic change last year) with the EU, Argentina, Australia, and Canada close behind, (In May, heavy rains obstructed 90% of planting in Canada’s prairie wheatlands, with output forecast as smallest in 14 years.)
...Before the start of the current agricultural season for the wheat crop in November 2021, Egypt’s government had set the procurement price at 820 Egyptian pounds ($44.60) per ardeb (331 pounds) for wheat bought by the government from local farmers, an increase of 15% over the previous year.
Amid the international tension caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its repercussions on Ukraine’s wheat exports, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi decided to grant an additional incentive to farmers, bringing the price of local wheat to 885 Egyptian pounds ($48) to encourage them to supply the largest possible amount to state storage silos. The move is expected to compensate for the deficit from the delay of any shipments of imported wheat….
...[Still, by early February, Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities was already seeking] to buy 55,000-60,000 tons of milling wheat for shipment in February and March [from] Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, [and Serbia, besides Russia and Ukraine]….
Perhaps ironically —or not— Putin’s war does not seem to impede Russia’s Rosatom from manufacturing equipment for Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, while Saudi Arabia (a benefactor to Egypt) and Egypt lead regional naval drills in the Red Sea.
Like the agricultural of all countries, Egypt’s capacity relies upon water supply. There is virtually no rain there, and although nontraditional water sources such as desalination of seawater and wastewater reuse are expanding, its agricultural sector consumes around 85% of Egypt’s share of Nile water, it’s primary source. With headwaters in Uganda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, and a drainage basin that also includes the the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Eritrea, and the Republic of the Sudan (i.e., Sudan as distinct from South Sudan), the Nile‘s output has been a source of conflict between Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, as they all attempt to construction projects and often-acrimonious negotiations to exert what controls they can in order to serve their parched, impoverished, often politically unstable populations.
More from Al-Monitor: Syrian farmers get much-needed support to confront wheat crisis. “Several organizations in northern Syria have launched programs to support farmers amid new concerns over flour and wheat supplies in the war-torn country. “
Idlib is taking steps to grow more of its own wheat in the face of global supply problems. Humanitarian organizations working in the province are supporting wheat cultivation in an attempt to achieve self-sufficiency and enhance food security in the area…
...Flour enters the province as part of the humanitarian aid provided by the UN World Food Program. But this aid may stop amid Russian efforts to close the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, through which humanitarian aid passes through for {Syria’s] most vulnerable. Russia attempts to restrict the entry of this kind of aid through the regime-held areas.
The Russian-Ukrainian war, has halted Ukrainian wheat exports, while Turkey also stopped exporting wheat to preserve its own strategic flour reserves. Thus, farmers and humanitarian organizations in Idlib have launched various projects to support wheat cultivation….