The government waits for the announcement of the new world prices of wheat to set the prices of the domestic wheat supply for the new year. The prices are expected to be officially announced within a month. The government will impose disciplines to make sure that the local wheat would not be mixed with the imported, Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt. The price of wheat would be higher than the world price to satisfy the farmers. The price will be set by the Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for estimating the cost of cultivation, land and crop, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which is responsible for importing wheat, in addition to the ministries of social solidarity and investment, a government source said.
The prices will not affect the wheat crop this year because the farmers have already planted wheat, he said.
The government would devise mechanisms so that the "cheap" imported wheat would not be mixed with the local one. It will also impose disciplines on supply, as there would be specialized committees to carefully examine the wheat to make sure that it is not mixed with the imported one.
It is easy to differentiate between the local and the imported wheat. The local wheat is darker and bigger than the imported, the source said.
The government intends to increase the price of wheat due to the high quality level of the local wheat and to encourage the Egyptian farmers to cultivate it. The source said it is difficult to guess the new price because it would be set by four ministries.
In the same context, Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that some government officials called for opening the door to wheat supply throughout the year without setting a certain period of time, as this will be in the interest of the farmers, who would be able to sell their crop at any time for the highest price on the free market. There is a noticeable decline in the global grain market this season compared to last season, as the world price of wheat declined to $200 from $400 a ton in the corresponding period last year. The government set the price of wheat in the corresponding period last year at about LE380 per ardeb. Some dealers bought large quantities of wheat from farmers last year in an attempt to speculate on the price. But when the world prices declined, they had to sell the stock, more than one million ardebs, at prices lower than the prices of purchase, so they incurred heavy losses.
