Egyptian Minister of Internal Trade and Supply Ali El Moselhy on Saturday laid the foundation stone for a national project to establish strategic food warehouses. The project's first phase will be launched in Suez. El Moselhy stated that the to-be Suez warehouse will be built on an area of 10 feddan, with investments worth approximately EGP 1.5bn, and will serve the governorates of the Suez Canal region. He pointed out that strategic warehouses are one of the pillars of the internal trade and food security system and secure citizens' needs for ready-to-use goods for long periods. The minister added that the aim of those strategic warehouses is to double the reserves of final goods at the governorate level, as well as reduce loss and waste of final goods. Furthermore, reduce trading circles, as well as to take into account geographical distribution and diversity of those warehouses and raise the efficiency of commodity stock and ensure the preservation of its quality and safety, as well as following up the commodity inventory through online linking of all strategic warehouses, which keep the commodities securely. Deputy Minister of Supply and Internal Trade and Chairperson of Internal Trade Development Authority, Ibrahim Ashmawy, stated that the establishment of the first strategic warehouse is scheduled to be completed in the period from 18 to 24 months. Ashmawy said that the main factor in the evaluation methods is adherence to the specifications, requirements and technical techniques necessary to manage these warehouses and mechanize the inventory, which will enable the Ministry of Supply and its agencies to know quantities of stored goods, as well as to determine type and size of disbursed products. He elaborated that these warehouses will contribute to controlling the storage system and preventing any kind of manipulation, in addition to facilitating inventory of available commodities in all governorates.
