Supply Ministry setting strict new requirements on wheat supply, to raise sugar

The Supply Ministry is setting strict new requirements for wheat supply in the season starting mid-April to avoid the mishaps from last year, Supply Minister Mohamed Ali El Sheikh told Al Masry Al Youm. The guidelines will be set in coordination with the ministries of agriculture, trade and industry, local development, and finance within the coming three weeks and presented to the Cabinet by mid-February, he added. The guidelines will include banning non-sealed storage. Beyond this, El Sheikh didn’t really state what distinguishes this year’s procedures from last year’s. As for sugar collection, the High Committee on Sugar will be holding meetings to decide on how much to raise the price of beets, which currently stand at EGP 270 per tonne, Al Borsa reports. Farmers are pushing for the price to go as high as EGP 600, while sugar producers are pitching a price of EGP 400.