Rice imports are bad for local growers, not an effective tool for market regulation, farmers say

Egypt’s decision to start importing rice is bad for local growers and is not the right tool to use to regulate market prices, farmers tell UKRAgroConsult. “Those greedy traders will monopolize the imported rice as they are doing with the local one,” one farmer said, suggesting that stronger oversight of the market is the way to go. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had approved earlier this month a government decision allowing rice imports in a bid to reduce prices, which rose after new legislative amendments restricted the cultivation of water-intensive crops. The Supply Ministry had said it would set a cap on the amount of rice Egypt will import. On a related note, some House Reps. tell Al Mal that repeated requests to the Agriculture Ministry to approve the cultivation of a type of rice grain that requires less water to grow have gone unanswered.