We’re waiting on MPs for the UAE wheat financing pact to come into play : Our USD 500 mn financing agreement to purchasewheat from Emirati agribusiness Al Dahra will likely kick off in January, Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy told reporters on a trip to Tanta yesterday. The agreement is expected to be greenlit by parliament after MPs reconvene in October, the minister said.

Refresher: The pact signed earlier this month will allow Egypt to import USD 100 mn of milling wheat a year over a five-year period, with the Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX) providing the financing. ADEX is the export finance arm of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.

Al Dahra is already a key supplier: Al Dahra owns 28k hectares of land in Toshka and East Owaynat and is the biggest private-sector wheat producer in Egypt. The company has sold more than 180k tons of wheat to the government over the past three years, making it GASC’s largest local private-sector supplier.

It will also be allowed to participate in tenders: Al Dahra will be able to bid in internationalwheat tenders to supply imported wheat to state grain buyer GASC like other suppliers, which would be funded by ADEX, El Moselhy said.

This is the latest financing agreement to support wheat imports: As the world’s largest wheat importer, Egypt has received support from international lenders to fund imports since the conflict in Ukraine upended global food markets and triggered an FX crunch at home. The World Bank and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (IFTC) have together provided bns of USD in loans for wheat imports amid higher wheat prices and difficulties making payment due to the FX crunch.

We’re doing more to grow local: In a bid to improve the country’s food security, the government will in the coming months begin cultivating another 3 mn feddans for agriculture, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said last week.

Local production has been on the decline this year: The government had procured 3.41 mn tons of local wheat this season as of 15 July, down 10% from 2022, according to figures from the National Food Safety Authority. Its target for domestic wheat purchases this year is 4 mn tons.

The news earned coverage internationally: Bloomberg

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