Egypt, the world's top grain importer,
| ...and keeper of grand artifacts that they'd rather destroy than use to earn cash to pay for imported grain... |
is squeezed between price hikes and growing demand. There are 2.9 million tonnes of grain reserves,
| Is that what's on the books, or did several official someones go and count it with their own eyes? |
| Minus ten percent here and ten percent there and it's close enough... |
enough to cover 117 days, Abu Zeid Mohamed Abu Zeid, Minister of Supply and Home Trade, was quoted by local media as saying when commenting on the possibility that Ukraine could ban grain exports. But Egypt's grain reserves may last as long as 187 days, given that 1.73 million tonnes of shipments will be delivered
| ...or are promised to be delivered, not at all the same thing... |
by year-end, according to Minister Abu Zeid.
Global wheat production is expected to fall by 6.1 per cent to 653.1 million tonnes this year, according to the USDA. The decline is forecast to reduce stockpiles by 13 per cent to 173 million tonnes, the lowest since 2009. The London-based International Grains Council has said that the combined grain stockpiles of the largest exporters will drop to a 17-year low. Egypt's grain output is expected to hit 9.5 million tonnes this year. The country's wheat imports are seen to total 7 million tonnes by the end of December.
Wheat consumption in Egypt stands at around 84kg per capita, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Supply and Home Trade estimates consumption at 180kg, as much is used as fodder.
Subsidised bread is expected to absorb around LE16 billion ($2.6 billion) of the country's budget in the fiscal year 2012/2013, according to the Finance Ministry. Susidised (baladi) bread sells for LE0.05 a piece, while it costs the State budget LE0.35, according to data released by the Ministry of Social Security. From a social perspective, subsidised bread is a must as roughly 40 per cent of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.
| Let them eat cake. That'll teach 'em. |
In a bid to make ends meet, the government has begun mixing maize with wheat to produce bread since the 1990s.
| How about using some of the water behind the Aswan Dam to irrigate the desert? I seem to recall a nearby country that made the desert bloom... |
| Or they could just increase the natural quantity of sand which gives Egyptian bread its special bite. |
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