Farmers are refusing to sell their rice harvests to the government due to low prices, says syndicate head

Farmers are selling their rice on the open market because the government is offering them prices that are too low, Farmers’ Syndicate head Hussein Abdel Rahman said, Al Mal reports. Some farmers are also smuggling their harvests to Libya, Sudan, Jordan, or the Gulf to fetch a higher price, despite an ongoing ban on rice exports. The government set the price of rice at EGP 3,500 per tonne, while traders on the open market purchase each tonne at EGP 4,000 in the local market and as much as EGP 7,000 overseas. Abdel Rahman said he expects the government to face a shortage this season due to that.