Supply Minister reaches agreement to buy rice from private mills

The government has reached an agreement with private rice mills to produce white rice, Reuters reports. The agreement, which could end a standoff over the buying price of rice, has the Supply Ministry paying private mills EGP 6.3 per kg or white rice, which the government would then sell for EGP 6.5 per kg in its outlets. Farmers last year refused to sell government mills their crops despite a plentiful harvest, arguing that the buying price was too low. The new agreement means that private mills will instead buy up the paddy at the current market price of about EGP 4,200 before selling it on to the government, Reuters explains. However, the newswire warns that “any subsequent jump in the local paddy price, however, could make the recently struck [agreement] untenable given the tight profit margin agreed to by the private mills under the new deal.”